Maximum Ride:The Otherworld
by Fightingrose
Summary: Twi-Ride Crossover. Welcome to the small town of Jericho, newly appointed home to Maximum Ride and the Flock. As they try to live a normal life, the flock encounters the Cullen family. Will they spell disaster or adventure for the flock?
1. Chapter 1

Maximum Ride: The Otherworld

I landed softly in front of the sprawling lawn, the gravel drive crunching slightly under my feet. I glanced at the paper in my hand, trying to shield it from the lightly falling rain, then at the numbers on the house. They matched.

"Guys," I motioned to the five figures that hovered in the foggy air above me. The flock landed behind me, tucking their wings in as they did. "This is it, you ready?" They nodded, silently for once, I think there's something to be said for flying eight hours straight, it really shuts peple up. I squared my shoulders and walked up to the door of the house, knocking loudly on the dark wood of the door.

I could hear footsteps inside, coming closer. The door was flung open and Ella grinned up at me. "Max! Fang! You're all here. Mom!" She shouted as we filed through the door. Iggy shook his hair and water droplets rained down.

"Ig!" I poked him in the side and he grinned.

"Max!" Mom was descending down a tall wooden staircase, a huge grin on her face. She enveloped me in a hug, before doing the same to Nudge, Angel, and the Gasman.

"I'm so glad you're all here!" She threw a one armed hug around Iggy and Fang, each of them rolling their eyes as she did.

"Come on upstairs, and I'll show you your rooms." Ella followed happily behind us, chattering with Nudge as we ascended the stairs.

I'll bet you're wondering why exactly we're at Dr. Martinez's house, it's a funny story actually. She was offered a job in Oregon, a friend of her's was opening a new clinic, and the pay was fantastic so she decided to come. She offered to have us all come live with her, go to school, take a stab at the whole normalcy thing. Seeing as the School had been shut down, we agreed. That was how we ended up here, in the midst of all this rain and dampness (apparently Mom didn't feel the need to mention what sort of weather they have here).

"Okay, Iggy, Fang, Gazzy, here are your rooms." Mom pointed to three doors on the right of the hall. "And Nudge and Angel, your rooms are right here. Ella is at the end of the hall. Max, your room is up the staircase at the end of the hall, the only other room up there is the library, I hope you don't mind." I smiled at Mom.

"It's my own room and it's warm, it'll be just fine." Mom smiled and patted my hair.

"Well, I have some clothes in each of your rooms, we'll go shopping later but those should hold you over. Dinner should be in about ten minutes." I smiled at Mom as she went back down the stairs. Ella grinned and pulled Angel and Nudge away to go look at their rooms.

Fang and Iggy shrugged before they stepped into their own rooms, Gazzy grinned at me, his blonde hair flopping in his eyes. "I like it here Max, and I have my own room!" I ruffled his hair, hoping that we could stay here a long time, I liked this house, and it felt good to be back with Mom and Ella.

"I like it here too Gazzy, why don't you go check out your room?" Gazzy spun and raced into his room, I heard him flop on the bed as I walked past, turning the corner to the spiral staircase that led up to the third floor.

A large round space greeted me, a window seat ran along the furthest curved wall, the cushions looking cozy. A set of double glass double doors covered the entrance to what must be the library. Another door, this one wood, was slightly open. I pushed into the room behind it, smiling happily at the sight before me. A Tall canopy bed, draped in blue netting stood in the center of the room, a light blue bedspread and satiny purple pillows were piled on top of it. A dresser stood opposite the bed, a big oval mirror sitting on top of it. A small desk sat in the corner tucked between two windows. A white laptop sat on top of it and I grinned in satisfaction. I was definitely going to like it here, I might even get used to the rain, hey, you never know.

*****************************

I was awakened in the morning by Angel and Nudge throwing open my door. "Cool room Max!" They said loudly. I sat up groggily, blinking away sleep. The bed was so soft, I wanted to stay there forever.

"Dr. Mom says it's time to get up. We have school today!" Angel smiled excitedly at the thought. "And we don't have to wear uniforms either!"

"Well that's something, why don't you go downstairs while I get dressed." The two girls spun and skipped out of my room. I noticed that they were both wearing new clothes, obviously "Dr. Mom's" doing. I smiled at the title they had bestowed on Mom, it fit in a strange way.

I had only changed into a T-shirt and shorts that I had with me to sleep in, so I hadn't seen the closet yet. I slid the doors opened, and looked inside. Two pairs of Jeans and a jeans skirt hung in the closet, I grabbed one of the pairs of jeans, wondering why on earth I'd ever wear a skirt. I saw a grey fitted t-shirt and a black cloth jacket that would cover up my wings effectively.

As I got dressed, I tried not to worry about school. We were in a new place, and we were going to a new school, everything would be fine.

******************************************

"Okay, all of you listen up." Mom turned to face us from the drivers seat of her big, new SUV. "I've been telling everyone that I've adopted you all. You've been living with me for the last two years, but during the move, social services had a problem with me taking you out of state, and that's why you didn't arrive with me and Ella. Got it?" We all nodded and Mom took a deep breath. "Okay kids, lets do this."

The school wasn't very big, nor was the town, in fact they were both really small. Mom dropped us all off in front of the main office building that served as the administrative hub for the lower school, middle school, and high school.

"Okay, you guys just go in and pick up your schedules, I'll see you all later today." We all waved as she pulled away, I felt like some freaky mutant brady bunch spinoff, except with less people, but still.

Ella decided to go into the office with us, she would be in the middle school with Nudge, Gazzy and Angel would be in the lower school. Iggy, Fang, and I, would of course be in the high school, as Juniors.

When we walked through the doors, I think every head in that room turned to look at us, I could hear the low whispers that started up, I picked up words wiht my raptor hearing, smiling at some of the comments, apparently some of the girls didn't think Fang and Iggy were all that bad looking.

I stepped up to the front desk and smiled sweetly.

"Hello, I'm Maximum Martinez, these are my siblings we just transferred and we're here to get our schedules." The lady smiled at us, her bleached blond hair wafted hairspray fumes as she rummaged through some papers.

"Here we are dears. We have Nick and Jeff, TIffany-Crystal, and Angel and Zephyr." Mom had let us choose what names we wanted to use, though we all had to use her last name, not that we minded. "Now, Ella can take Tiffany-Crystal and show her around the school, so that's all taken care of, but for the rest of you..." I looked at Fang nervously, guides? I mean really, we're not five.

"Angel and Zephyr, you'll be going with Jackson and Marissa, they're right over there." The woman pointed to two kids who looked to be the same age as Angel and Gazzy. Angel turned and gave me a big hug before she went to stand with the kids, before Gazzy could walk away, I grabbed the back of his shirt and knelt down beside him.

"If I get so much as a whiff of anything that could remotely be linked to a bomb of some sort, you're dead meat." Gazzy nodded then smiled before he ran to catch up with the other kids.

"Now, for you three. I understand that Jeff has some vision issues, so we've put him and Nick together for their classes, but you all have the same guide, Kelly." The lady pointed to a girl who stood by the door a bored look on her face. "Have a good day dears!" I smiled one last time as Fang and Iggy stood by impassively. I could tell the woman was dying to discuss us with the rest of the people in the office, this really was a small town.

The boys and I turned to the girl, Iggy standing close behind Fang. The girl jerked her head towards the door and walked out. I turned to roll my eyes at Fang but he was already following the girl. Hefting the backpack full of school supplies that Mom had gotten us, I followed them into a large open space, the girl was waiting for us outside the door, sheltered from the cloudy fog in the air by a slight overhang.

"Did you see them? They're going to be talking about you for the rest of the week! I'm Katie by the way, Katie Roth." The girl smiled and Fang smiled slightly and stepped forward. Wait what? Fang smiling?

"I'm Nick, this is Jeff, and Max." Iggy waved and I smiled. Katie grinned and motioned us towards the high school.

"Nice to meet you, I'll show you where your classes are." As I followed Katie, I pulled my jacket tighter and wondered what was up with Fang, my mind flashing back to Lisa. Whatever, squaring my shoulders I tried to prepare myself for the day to come.

*******************

I was nearly ready to scream when the bell rang for lunch. Literature was just finishing up and I wanted to kill the teacher, apparently my grammar is shameful, I wonder why? World history hadn't been much better, though the teacher was nicer.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any classes with the boys in the morning, though it looked as though I'd see them after PE in Biology and math class, thank goodness. I was kind of getting sick of people asking me how I liked their lovely town of Jericho, lets just say I lied a lot that morning (the weather wasn't helping my mood any either).

After following the small horde of students out of the classroom I quickly found my locker, using my raptor hearing more than anything else to listen for the clicks that meant I was getting the combo right, I had never realized how loud teenagers could be, well I had, but the sounds of voices echoing off the walls amplified everything. I could only imagine how much Iggy was hating this.

I went with the stream of people pouring into the cafeteria, bypassing the lunch line, suddenly glad that Mom had thought to pack us all lunches. I scanned the lunchroom looking for Fang and Iggy, finally spotting them sitting at a table in the corner. I carefully made a way through the crowded tables, trying to ignore the aching in my wings, probably from keeping them in tight all day. When I finally reached the table, I sat down next to Iggy, one of the only free spots left at the table.

Katie, and what I assumed to be her friends were all laughing and talking about what I didn't know. "Max!" Iggy said excitedly, "where've you been? Katie was just telling us about this skydiving trip she went on, she said it was like flying!" I laughed quietly as Katie noticed me.

"Oh hey Max! Guys this is Max." The other people turned and I suddenly wished Katie wasn't quite so popular. Katie went through a list of names, pointing at various people as she did I didin't even try to keep up, wishing I could just eat.

When the introductions were finally over, Katie turned back to Fang, and I pulled out my sandwiches (Mom obviously remembered our appetites). I had just taken a big bite of turkey and ham when a tall guy, who I thought might have been named Brian, turned to me.

"So Max, what classes do you have this afternoon?" I hurriedly swallowed, and turned to look at him.

"Umm, PE, biology, and math."

"Cool, we have PE together, maybe I'll walk you there?" I nodded, smiling, hoping I wasn't supposed to say anything else. Evidently Brian was satisfied, he w as distracted by someone asking him a question and I took another bite of my sandwich.

"Hey 'Jeff', you getting around okay?" Iggy nodded and jerked his head towards Fang.

"Yeah, I just stick by him and he tells me what's going on. He's kind of distracted right now though." Iggy rolled his eyes, and I looked over at Fang. Sure enough Katie was leaning towards him, her chin in her hand as Fang said something, apparently it was funny because she giggled girlishly, I rolled my eyes and focused on eating.

Just as I was finishing up my first sandwich, draft of cold air blew towards me from the door that led to an outside courtyard. I froze as seven gorgeous people walked into the cafeteria. They moved through the tables gracefully, as though the crowd of students didn't even exist. They all seemed to be in couples except for one, though I could tell they were in a group.

"Those are the Cullens."I looked beside me to see a girl with blond hair sitting down. She nodded at the table where the people had just sat down. "They all live together, with Dr. Cullen and his wife. They just moved here two years ago. I'm Amy by the way."

"I'm Max."

"Cool name. Yeah they're mostly paired off, even though they live together. I think they're all adopted. Six of them are "together" if you know what I mean, but the tall guy with the blonde hair, that's Ash. He's Single. They're whole family is pretty confusing, they keep to themselves mostly."

"They look...different." Amy nodded and laughed. One of the Cullens, a boy with bronze hair looked right at our table, his eyes locking on Amy, then on me. He frowned and turned back to his family. None of them seemed to be looking at each other, the food on the table wasn't touched either. Ash, looked at the bronze haired boy before turning to look at me. He smiled and turned back to the other boy. Standing swiftly, he dumped he threw his untouched food in the garbage and strode out of the room. Turning back to my sandwiches, I tried not to think about the Cullens. They were definitely different alright. Their beauty reminded me of the early versions of the erasers, I knew the school had been shut down, but what if...No Max! Everything is fine, though, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the Cullens, just in case.

***********************************************

A/N: So, first chapter is up, I hope you all like it. As you can see, everyone is NOT in the small town of Forks. They are in the small town of Jericho. It's in Oregon, well atleast it would be if it existed, but whatever. I am really into this story and I hope you like it too, the next chapter will be up as soon as I can. Enjoy, and review!

Read on,

Fightingrose


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello wonderful readers! I was just re-reading my first chapter and I realized I made a mistake (I know, I couldn't believe it either). I called Katie Kelly, Katie, if you'll remember, is the guide assigned to our lovely trio of intrepid highschoolers, so just for clarification, Katie is the name of the girl whom I'm sure many of you will come to dislike (I think, if I don't change my mind about the story, but I digress). Enjoy the chapter, and review!

p.s. Sorry it took me so long to update but FF was having issues, so it's not my fault!

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As promised, Brian walked me to PE, accompanied by Amy, thankfully. People seemed to give Amy wide berth, I didn't know why, but I was grateful for her company, she was like a shield against the curious students who might attempt to ask me yet again what impression I had of their lovely town.

As we left the lunchroom, we passed the Cullens right as they were splitting up to go to classes. I couldn't help myself from noticing that Ash seemed to be on his way to PE as well. I was distracted from my thoughts by Brian nudging my side.

"So Max, you any good at sports and stuff?"

I thought of all the genetic modifications that had been made to me over the years and smiled, "I think so."

"Great," Brian smiled, "maybe we'll be on a team together. The coach assigns us partners for this physical endurance stuff we're doing." I nodded, wondering what he was talking about. The school had done endurance tests, but they didn't do that sort of stuff here, did they? My face must have looked worried because Amy took linked arms with me and smiled confidently.

"Don't worry, they're no big deal, just sit ups, push ups, running, you know, cardio workouts." I nodded, comforted more than she realized.

"Great."

As we came up to the gym doors, Brian split off to go into the boys changing rooms, waving as he did.

Amy dragged me over to a small office just outside the changing rooms where an atheletic looking man was flipping through a binder.

"Hey coach." The man looked up and nodded at Amy.

"Hey Amy, this our new student?"

"Yep, she needs a sports outfit."

The coach nodded and stood up, setting the binder down and walking towards a closet set into the far wall. He rummaged through it, pulling out a pair of black shorts and a grey t-shirt with a falcon emblazoned on it. He handed it to me and smiled.

"Just keep up as best as you can, you'll get the hang of things soon."I nodded and took the clothes smirking at the falcon.

"What's with the falcon?" I asked Amy quietly.

"The flying falcons, that's our school mascot."

"Oh," I bit back a smile at the irony and headed into the changing rooms.

************************

I waited for Amy outside the gym after having thoroughly frustrated myself in gym. I had to hold back more than I'd ever had to during the fitness exercises. Apparently normal people couldn't do 200 pushups without getting tired, fancy that.

"Max!" I turned to see Katie hurrying towards me from down the hall.

"Hi Katie."

"I'm glad I found you, we all have biology together next. You ready to go?" I saw Fang and Iggy standing at the other end of the hall, their faces impatient.

I looked uncertainly at the entrance to the dressing room, "Actually I was kind of waiting for Amy." Katie suddenly looked at me, her gaze sharp.

"Amy? Amy Roth?"

"The one and only darling." Amy sauntered out of the dressing room, her lips curving into a smile. "We can all go to biology together, I want to meet your brothers Max." I shrugged.

"I can't imagine why." Katie was looking at Amy, almost fearfully, but before I could really look at her expression she turned to me and smiled at my comment.

"Come on, we'll be late for class if we don't hurry."

"What took you so long?" Said Iggy as we walked up.

"We were thinking of ways to ditch you but Katie thought you might not get over the disappointment, so here we are."

"Ha ha, the great and terrible wit of Max strikes again." I grimaced at Fang.

"My aren't we talkative today. Some special reason, or person?" I raised my eyebrows and Fang glared at me.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend Max?" He said, a hint of irritation lacing his voice.

"I was getting there, guys this is Amy, Amy this is Jeff and that's Nick." Amy smiled slightly and turned to Iggy.

"Are you blind?" Fang, Katie, and I all stopped walking to stare at her incredulously.

"Yeah." Iggy looked uncomfortable and he shifted on his feet.

"Oh, cause my brother's blind, he's 22, the way you were looking around just reminded me of him." Iggy shrugged.

"It's cool." Fang and I exchanged a look, if Iggy was cool, then I guess it was all fine. I started walking again, falling in beside Iggy and Amy.

Katie followed a bit behind us with Fang. When we arrived at the biology classroom I stopped dead. "You've got to be kidding me." I muttered. Fang nudged me questioningly. I jerked my head towards the front of the classroom where several DNA models were set up. Fang's eyes narrowed infintessimally and I sighed. The world hates me.

"Ah, our newest students, come in, come in." A lanky man motioned us into the classroom a welcoming smile on his face. "I'm Dr. Jackovich, but you can call me Dr. J. Welcome to the wide world of biology. Now how about we have you two," he pointed at Iggy and Fang, "right up front here, and we'll have you next to Mr. Cullen." Dr. Jackovich pointed to a seat right next to Ash, the blonde Cullen.

Amy smiled at me and went to sit down, Katie following her to her own seat. I carefully sat down next to Ash, smiling as I did.

"Hi, I'm Max."

"Ash."

"Alright kids, listen up." Dr. J clapped his hands and I turned to the front of the room. " Today I have a small in-class assignment for you, I want this packet done by the end of class so no goofing off, Jeff, Nick, and Max, you'll catch up quickly, I'm sure your classmates will be willing to help you."

Dr. J passed out the packets and I took mine resigndedly.

"If you need any help, just let me know." Ash's golden eyes locked with mine and I froze for a minute, a strange fluttering in my stomach.

"Thanks, I should be fine, I've done this before at...my old school, so no sweat." I forced myself to stop babbling and looked at my paper.

As I started to fill in a section about DNA structure my mind flashed back to the school, listening to and picking up pieces of information, many of the words the scientists had used appeared on the paper and I had to take a keep breath to keep calm.

I moved quickly through the packet, pushing down memories as I did. By the end of the class my muscles were tense, I only unclenched my fist to give Dr. J the packet.

When I sat back down, we had ten minutes left, I glanced at Ash only to see him studying me closely, his eyes curious.

"You don't like genetics?" I shrugged, trying to keep my face indifferent.

"It's okay."

"You look tense."

"I'm just tired."

"Hmm." Ash was silent for a moment, his eyes still on me. I took a deep breath, getting a bit annoyed.

"I know I'm amazing and all, but if you could keep the staring down to a bare minimum that would be great." Ash smirked and I was suddenly reminded again of the original erasers, he didn't look wolfy, just pradatorial.

"I'll do my best." I shivered, suddenly mistrustful of this beautiful boy. What if he was an eraser? What if his whole "family" was here to get us? Jesus, I sounded so paranoid, but what if they were?

The bell rang and I grabbed my bag hurriedly, I glanced one more time at Ash, this time he was looking at me calculatingly, I narrowed my eyes at him turned on my heel, meeting Fang and Iggy by the door, determinedly not looking back.

"Max, what is it?" Iggy was looking at me worriedly, his hand lightly touching my arm. I realized he could feel the tension in my muscles and I took a deep breath, checking to make sure that no one was close enough to hear us.

I pulled them into a small alcove where some bathrooms and a drinking fountain were. "The Cullens, have you seen them?"

Fang nodded and Iggy looked confused.

"The girl in our English class." Fang said to Iggy. Iggy nodded understandingly and turned to me.

"Do they seem...different to you." Fang shrugged and I let out my breath in frustration.

"I just...I can't explain it, I...don't they look like the first version of the erasers to you?" Fang rolled his eyes and smiled condescendingly at me.

"Max, the school is gone, you're just being paranoid. We're safe here."

"Yeah, Max, I'm sure you're just overreacting." Iggy said confidently.

I stared at the boys incredulously. "Yeah and how many times have my overreactions and paranoia saved your butts?" Fang rolled his eyes.

"Max! Just let it go! We're safe here! Just relax." I glared at Fang and Iggy, about to say something else I paused when I saw Amy round the corner. Katie trailing behind her.

"There you are! Come on, we have to go to Math class." Without a look in my direction Fang turned and walked towards Katie, Iggy paused and shrugged at me.

"He's right Max, I'm sure everything's okay." Iggy turned and followed Fang, I glared at their retreating backs. Just because we liked it here didn't mean we should let our guard down yet.

"Max? You coming?" Amy was looking at me impatiently, her hands on her hips. I nodded and tried to shake off my anger. As I walked towards Amy my thoughts flashed back to Ash's golden eyes, the strange feeling fluttered in my stomach again and I hurriedly pushed his eyes out of my head.

I needed to focus, who knew who the Cullen's were, and if the boys were going to blow me off like that, then I had to be on guard for all of us.

*************************************

I stood in front of the administrative building, waiting for the younger kids to get out of school. I pulled my jacket more tightly around me against the slight rain that was falling from the cloudy sky.

"Max!" I turned to see Nudge and Ella hurrying towards me from the middle school. They were accompanied by another girl, and they were all talking excitedly.

"Max, this is Renesme, she's Ella's friend and I just met her today, well that's kind of obvious I mean I've only been here for a day, but she's like really cool and her siblings are in the highschool, did you meet them? That would be totally cool if you did kin dof like a whole coincidence thing, would that be a coincidence? I mean since we all go to the-" I clapped my hand over Nudge's mouth and rolled my eyes.

"That's enough sweetie." Nudge smiled and I took my hand away.

"Hi, I'm Max. It's nice to meet you Renesme." Renesme smiled, and I was reminded inexplicably of the Cullen family.

"It's nice to meet you too, I really should be going, I see my sister over there." I followed Renesme's gaze to where one of the Cullen girls, I think her name was Bella, was hurrying towards us.

I instantly stiffened, and reached out to take Nudge's hand.

"Nessie! You ready to go? Edward has the car ready."

"Yes Bella, this is my new friend Nudge, and her sister Max." I all but glared at Bella as she looked at me and nodded.

"Hello, it's nice to see you Ella." Ella nodded and smiled, she must have met Renesme's family before. Atleast now I knew why Renesme reminded me of the Cullen's, she was one. "We'd better hurry." Bella cast one more glance at me, her expression guarded.

I was once again, struck by how beautiful she was, and despite myself I wondered why the school couldn't have made me like that. Shaking off those thoughts, I watched Bella and Renesme hurry away, Renesme's hand held protectively in Bella's.

"Max? What's the matter." I looked at Nudge and tried to clear my face of all worry. "Nothing, just be careful around Renesme sweetie, okay? I...well just be careful."

"Max, Renesme's really nice! We all call her Nessie though." Ella was looking at me earnestly and I smiled.

"It's not her I'm worried about, it's the rest of them." I murmured quietly.

A few minutes later, after I had had enough time to get my thoughts in order so Angel wouldn't detect anything, Gazzy and Angel arrived and we all headed down to meet Mom in the parking lot. I focused on listening to how the kid's days had gone, ignoring the boys as we all piled into Dr. Martinez's car.

I was quiet for most of the ride. Apparently too quiet, when we pulled into the garage, everyone piled out of the car and into the house. Before I could follow them Mom lay a hand on my arm.

"Max? Is everything all right, you're awfully quiet."

I hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at her nervously. "Mom, what do you know the Cullens?" Mom looked startled.

"Well I've met Dr. Cullen and his wife, they seem like very nice people. I haven't met their children, though I've heard good things about them. Why? Did something happen?" I shrugged.

"Nah, I was just curious." Mom smiled.

"Alright then, come on, we'd best get inside. It's cold out here.

*******************

After leaving my backpack by the front staircase I found the everyone in the kitchen, all about to head outside.

"Where do you think you're going?" Angel looked at me, smiling innocently, already seeing what was in my head.

"Outside." said Gazzy.

"No way Jose, you all have homework." I held back a rebuke towards Iggy and Fang, they should have told the kids to do their homework.

"She's right kids, get in here and get to work, or else no ice cream after dinner." Mom walked in behind me, a slight smile gracing her lips. Everyone groaned and I rolled my eyes.

Still ignoring the boys, who were muttering darkly about bossy girls, I headed upstairs, trying not to think about the any of the Cullen's, especially Ash Cullen.


	3. Chapter 3

It turns out that I didn't have to think about Ash or any other Cullen for the next week. It was a very good week, the sun was shining all day every day making the area uncharacteristically dry. The flock and I quickly settled into our new life in Jericho. The younger kids were making friends and doing well, they liked Mom and it really felt like we were the Brady Bunch.

Iggy, Fang and I made up, though I still hadn't let go of my suspicions about the Cullen's. Katie's group quickly accepted us, though I spent less time with them than the guys. I felt restless for some reason, as though I was missing something, something important, something was bothering me but I didn't know what it was.

I tried to hide my thoughts from Angel as much as possible, most of the time it worked. When Friday finally came I was relieved. I had come to dread the stupid piles of homework that the teachers felt the need to assign. I still hated history and English, though I liked math and science. PE was still frustrating as I had to hold back the whole time, though overall, we were all doing a good job at hiding our wings and powers.

When the bell rang at the end of the day I hurried to my locker, eager to get to the parking lot where Mom would be waiting.

"Hey." I turned to see Amy leaning against the locker next to mine her face cool and collected. I smiled briefly at her before turning back to my locker.

"What's up?"

"Well..." I slammed my locker and turned to face her.

"What?"

"There's a party tonight."

"Okay." Amy rolled her eyes impatiently.

"So do you want to come?"

"I don't know, where is it."

"Don't worry about that, I'll pick you up tonight at eight, just wear jeans and like a tank top or something."With that, Amy walked away, and as always the hallway seemed to clear for her. I still hadn't figured out why everyone seemed to be scared of her, I figured it was just people being weird. I was starting to get used to her, she seemed a little different, but she seemed alright. A bit abrupt at times, but other than that she seemed pretty nice.

After I had gotten the younger kids, I met the boys out at Mom's car.

In the car, I waited for a break in the conversation before I decided to mention the party. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to a party tonight." Mom looked surprised for a moment but she quickly composed herself.

"Where is this party?"

"I don't know."

"Well who're you going with?"

"Amy." Fang shot a look at me and whispered to something to Iggy who frowned.

"Well, do you need a new outfit?" Nudge perked up at this, obviously thinking there might be a shopping excursion coming out of this, (not that we needed another one after having gone on a fairly extensive trip earlier in the week to get some new clothes).

"No, I'm good. It'll be casual."

"Oh, okay." Mom was quiet and slowly the conversation started up again.

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I toyed with the idea of doing something with my hair as I stared in the mirror, I wanted to make a good impression but I was a bit unused to normal social events, like parties. My hair had gotten long, it hung midway down my back in small waves, someone at school said it looked like Blake Lively's hair, not that I knew who she was, I should probably look her up. I had chosen to wear a black tank top with the black cloth jacket I had worn on my first day to cover my wings. I thought I looked a bit Fang-ish so I put on a little bit of light blue eye makeup too. I heard a knock on my door and I decided to just bring a hair tie with me, and leave my hair down.

"Come in." The door slowly opened and I rolled my eyes.

"Jeez Fang, creepy much?" Fang stepped into my room and studied me for a moment but was silent.

"Was there something you wanted?" I asked as he sat down on my bed.

"Well..."

"Spit it out Fang!"

"It's this party." Fang's tone immediately put me on my guard.

"What about it."

"I've heard things about Amy's parties, it could be...bad."

"What kind of bad?" I put my hands on my hips giving my special leader look.

"Like sex drugs and alcohol bad." I snorted, like he'd know anything more about parties than I did.

"You're worried about this party?" Fang nodded. "But not about some could be school experiments who mysteriously disappeared after our first day here?" Fang crossed his arms over his chest, I noted a bit of exasperation in is expression.

"That's not the same thing Max, besides, I heard their family always goes camping when the weather's nice." I rolled my eyes.

My ears perked as I detected the sounds of a car pulling up to the house. "Amy's here, come on." Fang

"Right, well you know what, I can take care of myself and if you're worried about a party more than well...well I don't know what the Cullen's are. But if that's where you're priorities are, I don't think you're in any position to be giving me advice."

Fang glared at me. "Whatever." he stalked out of the room and I glared after him. What was up with him? I felt as though we were growing apart we were no long Max and Fang, united against evil, but Max and Fang, two kids (with wings), but still, two kids. I sighed and made my way down the stairs.

Angel, Nudge, and Ella were peering through the window and giggling. "Max!" Angel exclaimed."You look really pretty!"

"Thanks sweetie." Gazzy wandered in from the kitchen and sidled up to me, his face anxious.

"Max?"

"Yeah buddy?"

"Will you be back to tuck me in?" His face looked so innocent that I almost melted.

"I don't think so, you'll be in bed long before I get back, or atleast you should be." His face fell and it was one of those "awww" moments. "But I'll come say goodnight when I get back." Gazzy perked up and smiled at me. "No explosives at all though!" He turned back to smile winningly at me, his face a mask of innocence.

"Kay." He scampered off, his face happy again.

"Max?" I looked down to see Nudge and Angel crowding around me.

"Why is Fang mad at you? And who are the Cullens?" I scowled upstairs to where I knew Fang was, and blocked my thoughts from Angel as I was thinking about some very bad words at the moment.

"He's just being silly, and The Cullens...well you don't need to worry about them." I knelt down to girls' level and looked them in the eyes. "You guys, I want you to listen to Dr. Mom and Ella, you guys can hang out with her tonight okay?" They nodded sweetly and I smiled.

"Okay then." I gave them each a kiss on the head and headed for the door.

"Bye Ella have fun." She grinned at me and waggled her eyebrows.

"You do the same."

"Bye Mom!" I heard a crash from the kitchen and smiled.

"Be careful and have fun honey, Iggy be careful! You'll light the ceiling on fire!" I heard Iggy laughing at Mom's panicked tone.

I quickly made my exit, not wanting to get involved. Amy was idling outside the house, her car seeming to pulse with the beat of the music she was playing.

"Hey." She yelled as I climbed in.

"You're music is loud!" She grinned at me and hit the accelerator.

"That's the best kind."

I hoped the kids weren't watching as her tires spun gravel in every direction as she sped down the driveway.

Amy looked at me again her eyes twinkling mischievously. "You ready to have fun?"

"I sure hope so," I said, too quietly to be heard over the music. Amy only smiled and turned her eyes back to the road, the car going even faster.

******************************************

When we arrived at the party I could hear the music from the car. There was a long line of cars leading up the dirt road to the large cabin that stood on the edge of a lake.

Amy shut off the car and smiled at me. "This is my parents lake house, it's mostly me and my brother who use it."

"Wow, that's nice of your parents." Amy rolled her eyes.

"They don't really care what we do as long as it's legal and we don't cause any permanent damage. Come on, let's go in."

We made our way up the steps of house and the music got even louder. Inside the door I was met with a mash of people. I didn't recognize any of them.

"Who are these people?" I shouted.

"Mostly my brother's friends from college. Come on, I want to introduce you to some people." I followed Amy through the crowd of people, trying not to cringe with claustrophobia.

"Max, this is my brother Joe." Amy had stopped beside a tall blonde guy. He turned his head so he could hear Amy better, a familiar gesture I had seen Iggy do thousands of times.

"Hi, I'm Max." Joe nodded.

"Nice to meet you. You the one with the blind brother?"

"Yeah. You the one who's blind?" Joe smiled and inclined his head towards Amy.

"I like her Amy." Amy smiled.

"Yeah whatever bozo. You want something to drink Max? Beer or something?"

"No thanks. I don't drink." Amy looked at me for a moment, her face impassive.

"Suit yourself." Amy grabbed a beer and I thought back to Fang's warning. Maybe he knew something after all. "Hey Joshua!" Amy was waving at a guy across the room. He looked old enough to be one of Amy's brothers' friends.

"S'up Amy?"

"Joshua, this is Max." Joshua smiled at me, quick and charming. "I have to go say hello to some people, why don't you two talk?" I had the sinking suspicion that I had just been set up. Amy smirked at me and disappeared in the crowd.

"So I hear you're new in town."

"Yeah, just moved in about a week ago..." I paused looking for something to say.

"Did you grow up here?" Joshua smiled again.

"Nah, I'm a city boy. I go to college with Joe, I come up here every so often to visit." I nodded and looked around the room. I was itching to take off my sweater, it was getting warm in here.

Joshua glanced at me then at the back door. "Hey, it's kind of crowded in here, you want to head outside?" I let out a relieved breath.

"Yeah that would be great, it's warm in here." Joshua smiled and took my hand, almost possessively and led me through the crowd to the open back door. He led me down the porch steps to the edge of the lake where a small bonfire was going. A group of kids were sitting around its edge, I could see the glint of beer bottles in the firelight and grimaced.

"Here, sit down." Joshua held my hand while I sat on a log. He sat down next to me, his side right against mine. I shifted uncomfortably as he held out a can of beer. What was it with that stuff? It was all over. "You want some?"

I shook my head and he laughed. "Come on, loosen up a little." I took the can and popped the tab. When he turned to get one for himself I dumped it in the sand and scooched away from him. He was talking to someone on his other side and I fiddled absently with the beer can.

So far the party had been a bit of a let down. I had expected more....well just more. Joshua was on his second beer when he finally turned back to me.

"You know I'm kind of hot by the fire, you want to go closer to the water?"

"I don't know-"

"Come on." Joshua cut me off and stood a bit shakily. He teetered for a moment and I quickly stood to prop him up before he could fall. Obviously he was not a good drinker.

He let his arm fall around my shoulders and he rested most of his weight on me. "Come on." He stumbled down the sand almost knocking into several people who gave him dirty looks.

I grimaced and tried to keep him up as he led me towards the water.

"Isn't this better?" Joshua sighed loudly and sank down into the sand. I took a hesitant step backwards.

"Maybe I should go back up to the house..."

"No stay. I want to talk." Joshua tugged me down beside him. I sat tensely beside him, uneasy. Is this how most highschool parties went? Though there seemed to be more college people than highschoolers.

"You're really pretty." Joshua was looking at me with wide eyes, he leaned closer to me and licked his lips.

"Dude, your breath smells like beer." Joshua laughed.

"You're funny too. Do you like me? I like you, a lot."

"Umm-" I was stopped from saying that I thought he was a bit dumb and that I was going inside when his lips crashed onto mine. I pushed him off and he frowned. "I think I'm going inside now." I got to my feet and turned to go.  
"No wait!" I didn't stop until a hand closed around my ankle, pulling me to the ground.

"Let go of me!" Joshua was silent as he pulled me closer to him. "You're really light." He said almost absentmindedly. I could smell the alcohol on his breath as he leaned over me. I felt anger surge inside of me and growled. Joshua looked surprised for a minute, then my fist connected with his face and he reeled.

I scrambled to my feet as he rolled around clumsily trying to get his bearings.

"No, actually, I don't like you." Joshua looked up at me confusedly and I brought my foot up and stomped on his groin. He gasped loudly and curled into a ball. I could see people looking over at us from the fire.

I suddenly couldn't stand being there, I didn't like this party and I definitely didn't like Joshua.

I started running for the trees, eager to get back home. I let my internal sense of direction guide me back towards home. I ruminated angrily over the party. Didn't Amy know what kind of guy Joshua was? Did she even care?

I grimaced when I thought about what Fang would say, or wouldn't say. He'd probably give me the look that said, "I'm not going to say I told you so cause this look is telling you I told you so." I shook my head slightly and pushed myself to go faster, heading straight towards home.

The forest flashed by me as I looked for a clearing big enough for me to take off in. I was so distracted that I didn't hear the voices until it was too late. I crashed into a big clearing where three people stood. I skidded to a halt and froze, my eyes taking in the shaking boy before me. His form shivered and shook as he sprouted fur all over his body, his bare back was turned away from me as he curved closer to the ground. Before I knew it he had become a wolf, he shook his head and slowly turned around to face me. I barely noticed the other two people going through the same change as I locked eyes with the wolf.

"What are you freaks doing here? I thought you were all dead." The eraser narrowed his eyes at me and one of the other wolves growled softly. "And there are only three of you, how sweet. You thought you could take us with just three?" The wolf snorted, as if pointing out that I was alone.

"Oh don't play dumb with me. I rolled my shoulders and tugged at the zipper of my jacket. "I see they've upgraded you, now you can pretend to be real wolves!" I kept my tone sarcastic as I pulled the jacket off. My mind was racing, what were erasers doing here? I thought they had all died with the school.

"You know what, I'm glad I caught you before you could get to us, my family and I are happy where we are. We don't need you messing it all up." I threw my jacket into the trees, still with my back to the forest so they couldn't see my wings.

"Okay you freaks, bring it." I feinted at the lead wolf and he darted back. He nipped at one of the others as they snapped their teeth at me. "You scared? You should be." The wolf growled again then whipped his head towards the trees to his left. I took the oppurtunity and lunged.

He was bigger, a lot bigger, than the old erasers. I wondered if the school had blended in some horse DNA, but he still went down when I slammed into him. We rolled together, neither of us getting the upper hand. Neither of the other two wolves were moving, though they both whined at us. The wolf I was fighting seemed to be holding back, never really using his claws or his teeth, as though he were afraid to hurt me. He must be new.

"Is that all you've got dog boy?" I said as I slammed my fist into his ribs, I heard something crack and I smiled.

"Jacob, what's going on here?" I locked my hands around the wolf's throat, and looked up to see the confused face of Edward Cullen looking down on me.


	4. Chapter 4

I froze for a minute, staring in shock at his face. This night just kept getting weirder and weirder. The eraser I was fighting whined slightly as he slowly started to run out of breath.

I stared undecidedly between the wolf and the boy. I looked down then up again, surprised to see more people next to the Cullen boy, it looked as though the entire Cullen family was here aside from the Rosalie chick.

"Well now the gang's all here, isn't this just dandy." Edward shared a puzzled glance with the guy next to him, a shockingly good looking blonde guy.

"Ms. Martinez? Why don't you get off of Jacob now."The blonde man's voice was surprisingly gentle as he took a slow step forward.

"Oh we're all on a first name basis here, oh I didn't know that." I smiled viciously. "Jacob," I spat. "Why don't you tell me why the hell you and all your sicko friends won't go to hell?" The wolf whined piteously and my resolve shuddered for a moment, then he bucked and I flew threw the air. I snapped my wings out right before I slammed into the wall of trees surrounding us. I heard a collective intake of breath and I glared at them all.

"I guess whoever sent you didn't tell you exactly what you were getting into."

"Ms. Martinez-" The blonde doctor took another step forward as I hovered in the air.

"Please, call me Max, everyone else does." The blonde man looked at Edward again.

"Max, my name is Dr. Carlisle Cullen, I can assure you that none of us are here to hurt you," I burst out laughing.

"Oh that's a laugh, of course whatever tests you'd like to perform won't hurt a bit!"

"Max please, I think there's been some sort of a misunderstanding here. You seem to think that Jacob and his pack are here to hurt you." I inclined my head slightly, narrowing my eyes at him. "I can assure you that's not true."

"Really? So you're telling me that...Jacob...isn't with the school and neither are you?"

"The school? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"The government?" Dr. Cullen shook his head.

"The Uk? France? Russia? The Aliens?"

Carlisle smiled slightly at my last guess. "I'm sorry to disapoint you but we aren't "with" anyone."

I regarded everyone in the clearing carefully. My eyes brushing over the Cullens and resting on the wolves.

"Then how do you explain the erasers?" I glared at the wolves, I could swear that one of them stuck their nose in the air.

"I don't know anything about erasers, but Jacob and his pack are what many people would call werewolves, but they're really shapeshifters, their ability to transform at will is perhaps a unique talent that hasn't appeared in other areas of the world for different spec-"

"Carlisle, I think I'll take it from here." A petite dark haired girl, Alice I think her name was, stepped forward as she cut Dr. Cullen off. "The rest of you can go home except for Edward. I think we can clear this whole situation up very quickly." Alice smiled at me and winked. "The guys spend so much time in pointless banter, don't you think?"

I quirked an eyebrow at her and she laughed. "I think it's time to go meet your sister, Angel is it?" I tensed at the name, how did she know who Angel was? "I have a special talent Max. I can see the future."

"Alice, are you sure that's wise?" Edward was looking at Alice worriedly, then his face calmed. "Ah, I see, are you sure?" Alice nodded.

I turned suddenly as I saw the wolf I had been fighting slip into the woods.

"You can relax Max, Jacob's just going to phase." Alice smiled sweetly as I watched her warily.

It was quiet for a moment and I shifted ucomfortably on the branch I had landed in. I still didn't trust them, I just didn't see any way out of this. I'd have to get the flock and get out of town before they could get to us, especially Angel. What was up with this girl and wanting to meet her?

I was carefully studying the group, trying to decide what talents they had. The three wolves were obvious, but the rest of them...Maybe Alice was telling the truth and she could see the future. I heard the sound of something moving in the trees and turned to see the wolf, Jacob, walking into the clearing.

"Jesus, you hit hard for a girl." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Well for a guy you sure are dumb."

"Why don't you come out of that tree and I'll show you dumb." He growled and rubbed his ribs. Edward looked at him for a moment then grinned.

"She actually broke a rib? That's priceless."Jacob growled and I grimaced at Edward.

Alice swatted at Edward, "Edward be nice, it's time to go. We have to go meet Angel." I smiled. This was where it got interesting.

"Yeah umm, about that. See I don't even know what you are, and I don't trust you so there is no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I'm letting you meet my family, and quite honestly your whole ploy about not being with the school is kin dof dumb." Alice frowned as Edward murmured something in her ear.

"Edward is a bit frustrated, you see he can read minds, well most of them." Alice smiled briefly at Bella, she was the one I had met at school. "But for some reason he can't read yours and that's making him a bit antsy." I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Not another one." Alice smiled.

"Exactly, now you know why we have to meet Angel, she can tell you that we're not lying." I studied her for a moment.

"Why do you even care? I mean honestly, can't you just pretend that I don't have wings?"

"No. We can't." Edward locked eyes with me and frowned. "We have to find out whether or not you're going to be a threat to us."

"But what are you?" Edward glanced at Carlisle. "We can't tell you that just yet. Some of our kind don't like human," Edward's eyes flickerd to my wings, "or human like people knowing about us." I scowled at him.

"Whatever, but I'll have you know that I am 98% human, the rest is sugar and spice." I glanced at the sky, the moon was already setting. It was late, or should I say very early. I couldn't see any other alternatives to letting the Cullen's meet Angel, I could only hope to keep them away from the rest of the family. "Fine, but you keep your distance. Alice and Edward can follow me on the ground, and I don't want any of the wolves tagging along." I shot a glare at the now-human Jacob and the two wolves standing next to him. He merely rolled his eyes.

"I think it might be faster if one of us carries you," I paused as I felt a big drop of water hit my arm. The sky that had just been cloud free was now obscured with thick thunderclouds. So much for the weather.

"No, I'll probably beat you home." Edward grinned.

"I doubt that."

"Whatever floats your boat, now are we ready?" The rain was falling more heavily now. I could probably get home before it really soaked my wings.

Edward started to nod but then turned to glare at the blonde guy at the back of the group, Ash.

"No." Said Edward firmly. I glanced at Alice curiously, she was looking off into space dreamily. The other blonde guy reached out to grab her hand.

"Edward, just let me come." He had stepped forward and he was staring steadily at Edward. Edward frowned for a moment then glanced at me. I raised my eyebrows and he glanced at Alice.

"He'll come anyway Edward." I was starting to wonder if these people were legit after all when Dr. Cullen cleared his throat.

"Then the rest of us will be heading home. Esme?" He reached out and took the hand of the woman standing beside him. She smiled at me and I kept my face blank. One by one the rest of the people slipped into the forest, their movements sure, quick, and graceful. I stared after them curiously. What were they?

I glanced down again when Jacob and the other two wolves left the clearing as well.

"Max?" Alice said softly. "We're not quite sure where your house is so we'll follow you." She smiled again and I shrugged.

"Whatever, you can wait at the end of the driveway while I get her." I thought of Fang and Iggy, I didn't want to get them involved until I had to. "Umm, I'm not sure how fast you guys can go so...."

"We'll keep up." Said Ash. His face was impassive as I shrugged again. I spread my wings as far as I could in the trees. I checked my distances and jumped. I fell for a moment before my wings caught me.

I remembered my jacket on the ground and dove down to grab it, coming back up quickly. The Ash, Edward, and Alice were looking at me in wonderment.

"Lets go." I poured on the speed and rose above the treetops. I pushed myself faster, looking down every so often to make sure the three of them were still following me. They seemed fairly able to keep up and I wondered again what they were.

The party had been further away from the house than I'd thought, I flew for half an hour before I really got close, the rain was making it harder to fly but I managed. In the last mile I let myself go into hyper drive, I was fairly sure that the Cullen's knew where the house was by now.

I raced ahead of them and was in front of the house within a second. I quickly found Angel's window and climbed into her room. She was sleeping quietly, her hair fanned out over the pillow.

I gently shook her and her eyes flew open. I didn't bother to block my thoughts and she instantly understood what was going on. "Why don't you get a jacket, I'll carry you outside." I said quietly. She nodded and climbed out of bed. I waited for her by the window. When she was ready I picked her up, grimacing as the rain hit me again. I let myself glide down the driveway away from the house. The sky was slowly turning grey behind the clouds and I fought back fatigue.

"Okay Angel, I want you to be careful for me and tell me exactly what you get, okay?" Angel nodded, her blue eyes wide. She was quiet and I realized that she was scared. "It'll be all right honey."

She buried her face in my shoulder as I landed. The three Cullen's emerged from the woods, their faces dripping.

"You really do fly fast." Said Ash admiringly.

"I told you so." I shifted Angel in my arms and set her down on the driveway. She stayed close by me, one of her small hands holding tightly to mine.

She was silent for a moment and the three Cullens were still. She inclined her head slightly and frowned. She looked sharply at Edward and he looked back at her, his eyes wide. Angel nodded. I was getting a bit annoyed with this silent exchange when I felt Angel's presence in my mind.

_Max. They won't hurt us._

_Do you know what they are?_

_Well..Don't get upset. _I nodded and she took a deep breath. "They're Vampires."


	5. Chapter 5

I studied Angel's face closely and took a deep breath.

"Angel if you are lying, I swear to everything you can swear on, you will not wake up tomorrow morning." Angel didn't say anything, she just looked at me. I looked at the Cullen's and took a deep breath.

"You aren't with the school?"

"Would you mind explaining what the school is?" Said Edward.

"That's a no Max." Said Angel, taking my hand she squeezed it reassuringly.

"Are you going to...you know...suck our blood?" I said, ignoring Edward's questioning. Ash chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"No, you smell too...birdish." I let a part of myself be relieved. The flock was in no immediate danger then.

I was silent then. Watching the Cullen's with calculating eyes. Could I trust them? I had no idea what to do.

_Max?_

_Yeah sweetie?_

_Should we tell the flock? _I looked at Angel and frowned.

_I don't...No. We can't not right now, I need to figure some things out first. _Angel nodded.

_Are you going to tell the Cullens exactly what we are? _

_No. I think that can wait a bit. _I was distracted from Angel's and mine head conversation by Ash Cullen shifting his weight.

"Okay, I won't say anything about you to anyone, including the rest of my...family, and you won't tell anyone about us. I think I need to know some more about you..."

"Before you tell us what exactly you are?" Ash lifted an eyebrow as he looked me straight in the eyes. I felt flustered under his golden gaze, my muscles stiffened and I tore my gaze away.

"That's fine Max, don't worry about anything, it'll all be all right." Alice smiled sweetly at me and I smiled hesitantly back at her.

"Well then, we'll see you around." Edward nodded to the other two vampires and he and Alice sped off, I marveled for a moment at their speed until I realized that Ash was still standing there.

"What?"

"Nothing, I'll see you around Ms...Martinez." He smiled, a disarmingly charming smile, and my breath caught in my throat as the full impact of his good looks hit me. In a second he had turned and followed Edward and Alice. I stayed frozen for a moment until Angel tugged my hand.

She was smiling slightly. "What?" She looked at me for a moment and shook her head.

"Nothing. It's stopped raining." I suddenly realized that she was right and shook my wings out a little bit. The sky was still cloudy, but the rain had indeed stopped.

"Come on, lets go back to the house before the others wake up." Angel nodded and happily took my hand. I held off the memories of what had happened in the last ten hours until I was safely in bed, but the moment my head hit the pillow I was engulfed by dreams of golden eyes and blond hair.

*****************************************************

"Max! Wake up!" I opened my eyes groggily, clinging tightly to my pillow.

"What?"

"It's lunchtime." I looked up to see Nudge and Ella standing in the doorway. I looked at the clock by my bed, it was almost noon. I sat up and shook my head.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" Ella grinned.

"We tried, but you wouldn't wake up."

"Oh, well, I'd better get dressed. I'll meet you downstairs." The two girls nodded, mischievous smiles on their faces.

"Before we leave you alone, did you meet any cute guys last night?" I was silent for a long moment. At the party, no, and I most definitely did not meet any "cute" guys afterward. The Cullen males did not qualify as cute, they were godlike.

"No, now get." Nudge looked slightly disappointed and suspicious as she and Ella slipped from the room.

***********************

"Well if it isn't sleeping beauty." All heads in the kitchen turned towards me as I walked in. Mom was sitting at the table a sandwich in hand. I grinned sheepishly.

"Long night." I sat down and grabbed a sandwich off of the platter in the center of the table.

"So how was the party?" Mom's voice was carefully controlled but I could see she was barely containing her curiosity.

"It was actually kind of boring. Nothing special." I smiled weakly at her and took a huge bite of my sandwich.

"Well you sure got in late, I didn't even hear you come in." Iggy's face was carefully innocent. I kicked him under the table as Mom's eyebrows drew together. He winced and I hurriedly swallowed.

"I got lost." Iggy and Gazzy snorted. We all had an impeccable sense of direction, a fact that Mom had obviously forgotten.

"Oh. Well then, maybe your next one will be better."

"Yeah." After that, the normal conversation resumed and I relaxed into my seat.

I locked eyes with Angel and she smiled at me. Fang was quiet through the whole meal, his eyes were fixed on his plate, his expression thoughtful.

****************************************

I spent the rest of the day doing homework and flying around with the kids. I think we made it as far as Canada before we turned back for dinner.

The next morning was peaceful enough, I spent the day watching TV and playing with the kids. Right before lunch, the careful silence that had come over the house during the flock's epic monopoly battle was broken by the doorbell.

"I'll get it!" Yelled Nudge. She leapt up from the board and darted towards the door before I could say anything. I studied the board trying to figure out how I could win against Angel when she skidded back into the room.

Her eyes were excited as she grinned at me. "It's for you Max."

"Hmm? Who is it?"

"A really, really, REALLY good looking guy, I totally think you should ask him in, maybe he likes you, do you like him? I think you would look cute together you guys-"

"Nudge!" Angel had stood up and she glared at Nudge.

"You can stop talking now." Nudge looked slightly hurt, as Angel turned towards me.

_It's Ash Cullen, do you want me to come?_ I looked towards the door where Ash must be waiting, wondering where the heck I was. My hand flew to my unbrushed hair and I took a deep breath, suddenly nervous.

_No, I'll get it._ The rest of the flock was looking at me oddly, probably wondering whether or not they should call an ambulance.

"You guys can keep playing, just put my properties back in the bank and stuff." I stood and tried to smile confidently at them.

I wished I were wearing more than old cut off sweats that used to be Mom's and a hoodie. I took a deep breath as I rounded the corner to the foyer, where the door was standing open to reveal and bemused looking Ash.

"Hi, sorry about Nudge, she's a little...Nudge-ish."

"Hey!"

"I thought I told you that its bad to eavesdrop!" I yelled around the corner, I heard muffled giggles and I rolled my eyes.

"You want to sit on the porch?"

"Sure." I followed Ash outside, trying to calm my stomach which had decided to start performing complicated gymnastics.

I sat down on one of the chairs, trying to pull together some semblance of my usual Max-itude.

"Your family sounds, nice." Ash was looking at me, a small smile on his perfect lips.

"Yeah they're a bit of a handful, but they're cool, most of the time." I shifted so that my wings rested more comfortably against my back.

"Do they...is that uncomfortable?" Ash nodded his head towards my back.

"Not really, I'm used to it." We were quiet for a moment and I fidgeted under his gaze.

"So what exactly are you doing here?"

"You needed to know more about us." I looked at him in surprise."So here I am, ready to educate you."

"You're kidding right?"

"I assure you that I am not."

"Is this all so that you can find out what we are?"

Ash paused, tilting his head slightly so the clouded light that filtered through the stormy clouds made his hair shimmer softly while casting the rest of his face into shadow.

"I want to know what you are. Who you are." He looked straight into my heart seemed to stutter, after a minute I was able to shake myself out of it, smiling shakily as I did.

"Wow, Fangish moment there."

"Who's Fang?"

"My..brother." I thought of the times he had kissed me, the memories flying through my head, but I pushed them away and smiled at Ash.

"I thought his name was Nick?"

I backpedaled, "Well, that's just what we call him, you know, a nickname." Ash frowned and I searched for a way to distract him.

"You really want to do this?"

"What do you want to know?"

*********************************

"Max?" I jumped slightly as Gazzy's voice came from the doorway.

"Yeah Zephyr??"

"They're being mean to me." I smiled at Gazzy and opened my arms to him.

"Come here. I want you to meet someone." Gazzy came over shyly, his blond hair ruffled as he leaned into my side.

"Zephyr, this is Ash. I go to school with him."

"Hi. Max, you know you've been out here for like...an hour, right?" I smiled at Ash and shook my head.

"Who exactly was being mean to you Zephyr?" Said Ash, his voice kind.

"Nick and Jeff. They wouldn't let me hang out with them." Ash grinned.

"You know what I would do if they did that to me?" Gazzy shook his head and stared at Ash, admiration in his eyes. "I would find something totally cool to do, something way cooler than what they're doing, and totally forget about them."

Gazzy looked thoughtful for a second then a big smile broke out on his face. I recognized the look in his eye and I hurriedly intervened. "But nothing involving bombs, okay?" Gazzy smiled mischievously at me and nodded.

"Okay Max. Bye Ash!" Gazzy scampered across the porch, pulling open the door and running inside.

"No bombs?" Ash raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged.

"It's complicated. Nicely handled by the way."

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime, and thank you." Ash smiled at me then looked at his watch.

"I should really get going. I think I've told you enough for one day." We stood and he made his way to the edge of the porch. A light mist, halfway between rain and fog was sifting through the air.

" I still can't believe half of it."

"Well you're taking it pretty well."

"Thanks."

"So I'll see you in school tomorrow?" Ash turned so he was facing me, his face suddenly close to mine.

"Yeah, of course. Unless it's sunny." Ash had told me about the way his family sparkled in the sunlight, like diamonds. Which was why they had been gone the week before, "camping".

"Nah, Alice said it'll rain."

"Big surprise there." He smiled and lingered for a moment.

"It was nice talking to you Max."

"Yeah, you too."

"mmgh." I turned when I heard someone coughing behind me. Fang and Iggy stood in the doorway, they both were staring suspiciously at Ash and me, well, Fang was doing most of the staring.

"I'll be going now, see you round Max." Ash's voice sounded amused as he turned, heading into the rain towards a sleek black car.

"Yeah...see you."

I stared after Ash for a moment as he climbed into a sleek black car and drove away.

"So, you wanna tell us what that was about?"

"You wanna tell me why you care?"

Fang raised an eyebrow at me.

"Fine. Look, you guys, last night-"

"Yeah what's up with that? You came in way late, or should I say early." Iggy's tone was stern.

"I was just about to explain all that thank you very much." I was silent for a moment, waiting to see if either of the guys wanted to interrupt again. "Last night, I met Ash under some...odd, circumstances."

"So you got together with him last night?" Said Fang venemously.

"Is that what you think?"

"Yeah." I glared at Fang, anger coursing through me.

"You know what, I don't want to tell either of you what happened, I don't know what's up with you two, but whatever it is you need to snap out of it." I tried to storm past them but Fang reached out and grabbed my wrist.

"Snap out of what Max? We're just trying to keep the flock safe, and you're acting really weird."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you! You're the one who told us to stay away from the Cullen's cause you thought they could be dangerous, you had no reason for that little warning but then we find you talking for like an hour with Ash Cullen, I think that constitutes weird behavior."

"Well Mr. Talk a lot, I don't feel the need to tell either of you anything when I'm the one making sure this flock is safe while you two act like jerks and pretend to do the same." I yanked my wrist away from Fang and pushed the door open, slamming it behind me.

"Max?" Mom was coming down the stairs, her face worried. "Is everything all right?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask the two know-it-alls out there." Taking the stairs two at a time I ran up to the third floor, slamming the door to my bedroom and collapsing on the bed.

The fight was running through my head, each word loud and angry. I took a deep breath, what was wrong with Fang and Iggy? It was like I didn't know them anymore. They were acting so different.

As I calmed down, my thoughts turned to my conversation with Ash. He had told me about how his family was different from other vampires, vegetarians, I smiled, despite myself at the thought. He had told me all about vampires in general, what they were like. Now I knew why he hadn't been in school last week, apparently he glittered in the sun. I thought of the Cullen's walking up to the school, glittering in the sun. I could only imagine what Amy and Katie would say.

Amy! I had forgotten about her with everything that had happened this weekend. She was probably wondering where the heck I was after the part, she was probably mad. I'd just have to say sorry to her tomorrow. Pushing her out of my head, I let myself think about Ash again. He had talked about some vampires having special powers, like his brothers and sister, Edward, Jasper, and Alice. I wondered if he had any special powers. I'd have to ask him tomorrow.

I'd see him tomorrow! I was suddenly ridiculously happy at the thought. I just met the guy! What the heck was going on with me? Maybe Iggy and Fang were right, maybe I was acting weird.

"Max, dinner!" I started when I heard Angel's voice. Glancing out the window I saw that it had gotten late.

"Coming!" My thoughts were still filled with vampires as I walked downstairs, I would see Ash tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

"Okay kids, have a great day at school." Mom's voice was distracted as we all piled out of the car, everyone had been running late today. I thought we should fly to school but Mom insisted on driving. Safer that way, she said.

"By Dr. Mom!"

"By Mom!" various goodbye's were heard as the car doors slammed shut and we all stepped back from the curb.

I did a quick head count to make sure we were all there. "Okay guys, Nudge, Ella, you guys have a good day at school and good luck on your vocab quiz, you'll do great, and no cheating!" Nudge and Ella rolled their eyes before skipping off towards the middle school. "Angel, Gazzy, you guys have fun no mind control and no bombs, you guys are doing great, okay?" Angel and Gazzy nodded in unison before turning to race towards the lower school. I stood up and was about to say something to Iggy and Fang but then remembered that I wasn't talking to them.

They had tried to get me to forgive them and tell them what was going on, but I hadn't relented. I was still really mad. The memory of our fight surfaced and I harumphed at the boys and walked away.

"Have a good day Max!" Iggy's voice was sugary sweet. Iggy and Fang were chuckling, apparently they thought I was only being stubborn and that I couldn't hold out for much longer, we'll see about that.

"Max! There you are! Tell me all about him!" I was startled when Amy suddenly linked arms with me her face expectant.

"Wait what?" Amy rolled her eyes.

"The guy? Joshua? The one you hooked up with." I nearly had a heart attack.

"I did no such thing!"

"Then where did you disappear to?" Amy's tone was suddenly frosty and I scrambled to find an excuse.

"One of my brothers wasn't feeling well and he needed me." I crossed my fingers and smiled apologetically. "He's just such a sweetie and he sounded so sad on the phone I just had to go to him."

"I didn't know you had a cell phone." Of course I didn't have a cell phone and of course Amy would know that.

"My brother came, Nick, he umm, he came to get me, he had my Mom's phone."

"oh." Amy was quiet for a minute as we walked towards the school.

"Which one was sick?" Amy's voice was carefully casual.

"Zephyr."

"What did he have?"

"Food poisoning. He was throwing up something awful." I shook my head and tried to look sad.

"Wow, you're pretty devoted. I'd wouldn't go near my brother if he were puking."

"Yeah well..."

Just then the bell rang and I sighed in relief as we hurried into the building and off to class. Amy couldn't question me any more, for now.

***************************************************

When the last period was over I nearly bolted out of class. I was sick of trying to dodge Amy and the guys all day. I had spent lunch in the library and to top everything off, Ash wasn't in school.

I had seen his family, Alice and Bella had smiled at me, but I hadn't had the chance to talk with any of them. I had thought a lot about what Ash had told me and I had a lot of questions. But it looked as though they'd have to wait.

I went to get the younger kids and I saw Bella again as she picked up Renesmee. She nodded at me before heading off, Renesmee's hand held in hers. Ash had told me about Renesmee, I felt bad for the girl. She was like us in a way, she was a mix of two worlds, different from everyon else, and nothing could change that.

"Max?"

"Yeah Nudge?"

"There's that guy again." Nudge and Ella were giggling, their eyes darting between me and...Ash. He was leaning against his car watching us approach with a smirk on his face.

I realized that I hadn't been paying attention to anything the kids had said. I pushed them towards where Iggy and Fang were waiting for Mom, surrounded by Katie and her friends.

"Go on you guys, I need to talk to Ash."

"Ooh, his name's Ash!" Nudge and Ella burst into another round of giggles.

"Max and Ash sitting in a tree-" Nudge stopped singing when I glared at her.

"I'm going." Nudge, Ella, and Gazzy ran off, the three of them slightly sobered.

"Do you need me Max?" Angel was looking up at me with big eyes.

"No sweetie, I'll be fine." Angel smiled sweetly and patted my hand before running off to join the rest of the flock.

I took a deep breath and walked towards Ash who watched me steadily as I approached.

"Playing hooky?"

"Hunting. I forgot to over the weekend."

"You forgot to go hunting?" Ash smirked.

"I was a bit distracted by a pretty girl with wings."

I rolled my eyes at Ash and crossed my arms.

"So what are you doing here now?"

"Well, I figured you had some questions that you might want answered."

"You got that right."

"And I thought it was time you answered some of mine, and my family's."

"Oh." I paused and looked at Ash for a moment. His head was tilted to the side and my stomach started doing gymnastics again as I met his golden eyes. Could I trust him?

"Hi, I'm Nick, I don't think we've met." Ash and I both turned to see Fang practically glaring at Ash as he walked up to us.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

"Meeting your...friend." Fang smiled at me.

"I'm Ash, it's nice to meet you."

"Right, Max, Mom is here, so we should go." Fang jerked his head towards Mom's car which had just pulled up. The rest of the flock was filing inside. I glanced at the car then at Ash.

"Hold this." I shoved my backpack at Ash who hurriedly grabbed it.

Crossing the street I paused outside Mom's window and she rolled it down.

"Hey Max, who's the guy? He's cute." Mom was eyeing Ash specutively, her gaze admiring.

"That's Ash, Max looooves him!" I glared at Nudge and she whimpered before scrambling into the back of the car.

"I'll get you later!" She sniffled from the back and Gazzy snorted.

"Scaredy cat."

"Mom, I'm going home with Ash, I'm not sure what time I'll be home but we're going to...study, with his family." Mom raised her eyebrows at me and I smiled innocently.

"Love you, bye!" before she could say anything I darted off. Fang was still standing by Ash, glaring at him while Ash watched me with a look of mild fascination.

"Okay lets go!"

"Wait, no, you can't go with him!" Fang turned his glare on me.

"Excuse me?" I put on my best leader face and put my hands on my hips. "I can go anywhere I want to go, and I am still angry with you so don't push it mister!" Fang scowled at me and threw his hands in the air.

"If that's the way you want it." He turned on his heels and stalked towards Mom's car. Letting my breath out I stalked to the passenger side of Ash's car.

"Let's go."

*********************************************

"I thought you'd be pouring on the questions by now." Ash glanced at me and I shrugged.

"I'm just...thinking."

"About what?"

"Stuff." Ash glared at me.

"What kind of stuff?"

"I don't know. I'm just thinking about how everything's turned out. I never thought I'd be sitting in a car with a vampire, although with the way my life has gone, I shouldn't be surprised."

Ash shook his head. "Now I'm practically dying to know what you are. You're like this...mystery, I've never met another girl like you." I could feel myself turning red.

"Yeah I think I'm kind of rare, maybe I'll make it onto the endangered species list." Ash turned sharply and his hands tightened on the wheel

"Not if I can help it."

"That's a pretty big job, you know. A lot of people have it in for me." I was surprised when Ash growled.

"That's not funny." I stared at him in surprise as he jerked the car into a driveway. The gravel crunched under the wheels as a tall house came into view. It's rambling structure was dark against the grey of the sky.

I let my attention come back to Ash. "Relax, it's all good." My heart seemed to be pounding faster than normal. Ash shook his head and smiled at me.

"I can't explain it but, it's like from the second I saw you pounding the crap out of Jacob I can't stay away from you." Ash's voice was thoughful as he watched me. I struggled to come up with a witty comeback, it took me a second.

"I have that effect on people, cause you know, I'm just that perfect." Ash smirked and was silent.

I turned to open the door but before I could it opened to reveal Ash bowing like a gentleman, his hair falling lightly into his eyes.

"Milady, might I escort you into the vampire's lair?"

"As long as nobody eats me." I stepped out and we made our way towards the house, Ash slowing his steps to keep pace with me.

"Esme? Carlisle? Guys, we're home!" As Ash stepped through the door a loud shriek sounded and something small hurtled into him.

"Uncle Emmet won't stop tickling me!" Renesmee's voice was loud as she tried to climb her way up Ash.

"Mwhahaha! You can never run from me!" Emmet tried to do an evil laugh but failed miserably as he lumbered across the living room towards the foyer.

"Hey you guys, cool it, we have company." Ash's voice was stern as he glared at Emmet, who merely laughed at him before glancing at me.

"Ooh. GO on Nessie, you have homework." Emmet stood up straight as "Nessie" stalked off, a pout on her small face.

As I watched the rest of the Cullen's appeared their faces curious.

Ash ushered me towards a long black couch that sat in front of a wall of windows.

As everyone sat down I was suddenly nervous. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. What if I was being dumb? What if they really were with the school? A wave of calm washed over me and I frowned.

"Thank you Jasper." Said Carlisle serenely. I suddenly remembered Ash telling me about Jasper's ability.

"So, I think we all know why we're here. Ash has been telling you about our world, and I faintly remember you having something to tell us about." Carlisle smiled at me kindly.

"Yeah cause we're just a bit curious about the wings." the pretty one, Rose's voice was sarcastic as she crossed her arms. Ash glared at her before turning to smile at me encouragingly.

"Okay. Well..." I searched for a place to start. "My last name isn't really Martinez, it's ride. I grew up in this place called the school. It's filled with a bunch of mad scientists who messed around with me and my family's DNA which resulted in us having some funky powers and wings. We're 98% human, and 2% bird." I spoke in a rush, trying to get the hardest part over with then stopped and looked at the Cullen's.

"You poor dear!" Esme's voice was filled with compassion.

"Bird actually." Everyone chuckled a bit at my bad joke and relaxed some.

"Amazing, I had heard rumors but I never thought Borcht would..." Carlisle was frowning and I remembered that he was a doctor.

"Yeah well, he did." Carlisle looked surprised.

"You've met Ter Borcht?"

"Yeah, he tried to sell us to China." Everyone was silent, I think they thought I was joking.

"So the rest of your family is...like you?"

"Yeah," I went through the list of the flock's powers.

"Wow." Bella's voice was disbelieving as she looked at me in awe. "Can we see them again, your wings?" Her voice was eager.

"I mean, is that too personal?" I shook my head.

"No, umm," I stood and went to the center of the room. Shrugging off my jacket I let my wings slip out from the slits I had cut in my t-shirt. I was careful not to knock anything over as they extended into the room.

"How can you fly, if your bones are like normal bones?" Carlisle was looking at me as though I were a puzzle.

"Our bones are hollow, we also have air sacs, our blood has nuclei, and our heart beats faster than a normal heart, more like a bird's heart." Carlisle nodded and I flapped my wings slightly before tucking them back in. "So..."

Everyone was quiet for a moment and I sat back down.

"So why did you think we were from the school if the school no longer exists?" Jasper said suspiciously.

"Well, we've lived on the run for most of our lives, and usually everyone who's tried to kill/capture us has been connected in some way with the school. Even though the school no longer exists, technically, there are still people out there who are connected with the school who might be after us." Jasper nodded and sat back in his chair.

"So people have tried to...kill you, often?" Esme's voice was disbelieving.

"Yeah."

"But why? You're just children!" I stared at Esme for a moment then burst into laughter. Only children, that was good, really it was priceless. It took me a minute to stop laughing, the Cullen's were shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

"We may be "just children" but we are children with wings, we have super powers, we were created as weapons! We weren't created to go to kindergarten and pain pictures of rainbows and kittens, we, and other mutants, were created to solve algorithims at 2 years old and lift cars and change into animals, we were created to defy the limits of humanity. We may be just children, but we are super children, that puts us fairly high on the hitlists of those who want to control our powers. Its a fact of life, well our lives atleast." Esme looked sick.

"How...I don't understand how anybody could have let this happen." Her voice was shaky.

Everyone was quiet for a moment and I stared at my feet, I felt as though I had just stripped naked and read my diary out loud (not that I even have a diary, but its a fitting metaphor). I was still wondering if I had made the right choice, in telling the Cullen's our secret. What if I was wrong, what if they told someone?

_The're vampires Max, I think they can keep a secret. _My inner Max sounded annoyed with me. _Yeah but, this is the flock's lives we're talking about_. I looked up at the Cullens, their faces were filled with a mixture of pity and shock. Straightening my shoulders, I stared defiantly at them, I didn't need pity.

"I have one question," Dr. Carlisle looked perplexed, "Why would you be living with Dr. Martinez?"

"Well, she's my biological Mom." Stunned silence met my words. "She used to be connected with the school, now that the school's shut down we decided to come live with her. Besides, she's a vet so she can take care of us if we're sick or injured." Dr. Carlisle smiled.

"Well I guess that makes sense, I never thought Valencia would...this is certainly surprising."

"Yeah well..."

"I'm still confused about why you attacked Jake, what did you think he was?" Bella sounded puzzled.

"Well, there used to be these mutants called erasers, they were lupine hybrids. Basically like werewolves except the school used them to hunt us. They were the ones who tried to capture us when we were on the run, I only ever knew one good eraser and he was my brother." I paused for a moment, remembering Ari's overgrown face and how he had looked so happy in Paris. "Anyway, they developed a newer version of Erasers, we called them flyboys, they were like robots, except they were covered in living flesh and they were permanently morphed. When I saw Jacob change, I figured someone had gotten ahold of the blueprints the school made to create Erasers. He just...I thought he was one of them." Carlisle nodded, his forehead was creased with thought.

"This is very interesting."

"Just like a novel ain't it?" My sarcasm was lost on him.

Ash suddenly glanced at his watch then at me. "I should get you home, its getting late." I nodded and stood.

"Actually I think I'll fly home." Ash stopped for a moment then nodded slowly.

"Right, you're going to...fly home. Of course." Ash took a deep breath and held out a hand as I stood up. I carefully took it and started walking to the door.

"Okay, Bye!" I felt awkward as Ash opened the door.

"Goodbye Max, thank you for trusting us."

"No problem, one thing though," I paused and surveyed the Cullens. "If any of you meet my family, could you keep this all quiet?" Carlisle and Edward exchanged a look.

"That would be fine Max, although, we have to ask you not to tell your family what we are. We've already broken the rules by telling you. It would be safer for them if they didn't know." I glanced at Ash, biting my lip softly.

"Okay, other than Angel that should be fine, speaking of Angel, she's cool with the whole you guys knowing we're bird kids and all. She'll find out anyway." The Cullen's nodded and I stepped through the door.

I walked out onto the drive way and paused. Ash had stopped and was watching me from a few feet back.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you a question."

"Anything."

"Do you have any special powers?" Ash smirked at me.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Then I wouldn't have an excuse to come and see you again." I stared at Ash, unsure if he was joking or not.

"Max!" I turned to see Alice standing on the porch, her face ecstatic.

"Have you ever gone dress shopping?" I looked at Ash then back at Alice.

"Why would I need a dress?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"No, I guess not."

"Excellent! I'm taking you out after school on Friday then. Bye!" I stared after Alice in bewilderment.

"Don't even try to guess what she has planned, she can see the future so it's kind of hard to thwart her nefarious schemes." Ash shrugged in resignation and I faintly heard Alice shout something from inside the house.

"Okay then, well, I should go." I snapped my wings out and jumped straight into the air.

I could have sworn I saw several faces pressed against the glass of the house, watching me rise into the air, I grinned and smiling one last time at Ash, I poured on the speed.

*********************

The sky was already dark by the time I landed in on our back porch. Opening the sliding glass door I tucked my wings in and stepped inside.

"I'm home!"

"Oh my god!" I heard the crash of glass and a shrill shriek. I spun to see a startled looking Katie with her hands pressed to her chest, a shocked look on her face. The remains of a glass lay on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" Katie took a deep breath and smiled.

"Me and some kids from school were just hanging out with your brothers, you scared me!" What in the world?

"I do try."

"Katie? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Fang and Angel peered around the corner Fang's face worried.

"Nothing Nick, your sister just startled me." Fang glanced over to where I was standing and frowned.

"It's about time you showed up."

My jaw almost dropped to the floor. Who did he think he was?"

"Max?" I glanced at Angel she was staring questioningly me, apparently she had already gotten what had happened at the Cullen's from my head.

"It's fine sweetie, it has to be like this." Nodding she smiled reassuringly at me.

Fang had walked over to Katie and was inspecting her hands,I noticed a faint blush on her cheeks.

"I'm fine, honestly."

"Yeah well, I'm glad you're alright. Maybe if certain people weren't sneaking into the house at all hours, things like this wouldn't happen." Fang shot a pointed glance towards me and I narrowed my eyes at Fang, I slammed the sliding door behind me, hard.

Everyone jumped and I stormed out of the kitchen towards the family room. I could hear some people talking as I approached.

The rest of the flock and Ella were sitting on the floor and on the couches along with some other kids I recognized from school.

"Where's Mom?" I looked at Ella, ignoring the kids from school, she looked warily at me.

"She had to work late, an emergencey case."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "Is everything okay Max?" Ella sounded worried.

"Yeah I'm-"

"She's fine, I'm sure." Fang's voice sounded behind me. I turne to see him leaning against the door frame, Katie standing behind him. Angel slipped past them and came to stand beside me.

"I can talk for myself thanks."

"No need to get upset Max." Fang stared insolently at me and my fists curled.

"Fang..." Iggy's voice sounded worried. The kids from school had all gone quiet.

"Fang you should be careful." Angel grabbed my hand and clutched it tightly. I felt someone grab my other hand and looked down to see Gazzy glaring at Fang.

"Stop being mean to Max!" Fang chuckled.

"I don't know what's wrong with you Max, ever since you've met that Cullen guy you've been really weird. I felt a surge of anger and my limbs trembled. I could practically feel a growl rising in my throat.

"You leave him out of this."

"Aw, awfully protective of your little boyfriend aren't you?" I feinted at Fang and he flinched. I stared at him for a moment. My muscles tight, Ash's face flashed through my mind and I focused on it, letting go of the anger. I'd deal with Fang later.

"You know what Fang, I'm not going to do this, atleast not right now. I don't know what the hell is up with you, but whatever it is, you'd better cut it out." I turned to look at the rest of the room.

The kids from school were staring at me, their eyes wide as saucers. Angel and Gazzy were still holding my hands, their faces triumphant, I realized that they were glad I had "won" against Fang.

"Come on guys, lets go upstairs. I nodded towards Nudge and Ella and they got to their feet. I started towards the stairs, swinging Gazzy up onto my back for a piggy back ride. The kids scrambled up the stairs behind me as I tried not to look back.

As we headed towards the third floor where the library and my room were I heard talk start to break out again.

"Whoa, dude, your sister is intense!"

"Nick, that wa weird dude. She looked like she was gonna kill you!" The conversation slowly picked up again, Fang at the heart of it. As we reached the top of the second staircase I realized that Iggy had been silent.


	7. Chapter 7

The library was quiet as the kids read. We had all made use of the conveniently stocked library after the little fiasco downstairs. I surveyed the room, taking in the quiet way Angel was mouthing the words, the quiet giggles from Nudge and Ella as they read the same book. Gazzy was curled up next to Angel his eyes wide, I looked at the book and smiled, _Everything Gross_, why am I not surprised?

My own book lay open on the table, _Technique, A Martial Arts Guide, _I didn't anticipate any fights to the death in the future, but still, you never knew. The worry that should have been gnawing at my insides about the Cullens, was replaced by a dull ache, part worry, part anger, and part sadness, Fang and I had never fought like this before, ever. Even when he left the flock that one time, it wasn't like this. I had no idea what to do.

A lot of the kids from school had left about an hour ago, I think a few of them were still down there though. I sat up straight as I heard the faint grind of the garage door opening, Mom was home.I needed to talk to her, about several things.

Glancing at the clock I saw that it was ten o'clock, time for bed. "Guys I need you to get ready for bed, it's already late." The kids all grumbled slightly as they trouped out of the library. Gazzy still clutched his book to his chest, obviously enthralled with the world of grossology.

Looking longingly at my room across the hall, I followed the kids down the spiral staircase, making sure they all went to their rooms instead of someone else's (Cough, Nudge, cough Ella).

Mom was standing downstairs in the foyer her keys still in hand. Fang and Katie were standing in the door, both of them laughing. I leaned against the top of the stairs, waiting patiently. Katie spotted me first, her eyes widening slightly.

"Oh, hey Max!"

"Hey Katie."

"Max! There you are, did you have fun at the Cullen's ?" Mom sounded eager, she probably thought I was "with" Ash, or something.I glanced at Fang and frowned.

"I was actually hoping I could talk to you about that, alone?" Mom looked surprised but pleased as well, I had a feeling she wasn't expecting the kind of chat I had in mind.

"Sure, why don't we go into my office?" I nodded and walked past Mom and Fang, smiling slightly at Fang I headed down the hall, acutely aware of the glare Fang would be sending me.

I opened the wooden door to the study and sat down on one end of the leather couch. Medical books lined the walls and an exam table sat in one corner, for house calls, or when one of us got hurt.

The door opened and Mom stepped inside. "Katie is such a nice girl, I invited her for dinner tomorrow, that should be nice hmm?" Mom turned and smiled happily at me as she shrugged on a sweater.

"Yeah I guess."

"What's wrong Max?" Mom came down and sat on the couch. I searched for the words to say what I needed to say.

"Mom, in life, sometimes you have to make hard choices, you know that." Mom nodded, her face wary.

"If I ever tell you that I have to leave, I need you to let me go." Mom stared at me.

"Max, is something going on?"

"Not..not right now. But I want to be prepared if something does happen. I want to make sure that the flock is taken care of. I know people who can protect them if worst comes to worst, and you too, but you need to know that if anything ever does happen, and I need to leave, I need you to let me do what I have to do." Mom sighed her face suddenly sad.

"I understand Max. Is there anything that you can tell me? Is there something that's making you worry?" I looked at the floor, deciding what to tell her.

"The Cullen's know about us."

"What?" Mom stood up, her expression almost comical. She paced slowly in front of me, her eyes worried.

"Is that why you're worried, because the Cullen's know?"

"No! It's just...well I can't tell you that but, they can be trusted, I know that for a fact."

"How did they even find out?"

"They saw me flying."

"When?"

"After Amy's party."

"Why were you flying after Amy's party?"

"There was this creepy guy there and I wanted to go home."

"You could have just called me." Mom looked at me reproachfully.

"Flying seemed easier at the time." Mom was silent for a long moment.

"You know this is incredibly dangerous. Dr. Cullen is a nice man, but I'm not sure your trust in him is well placed."

"Mom, I can't tell you why but they will keep the secret." Mom sighed.

"I trust you Max, but be careful."

"I always am." Mom smiled and patted my leg.

"Okay then, go on up to bed."

*************************************

While I would have liked to go straight to bed, I hadn't done any of my homework that night. Between being at the Cullen's and the fight with Fang, it had completely slipped my mind. As a result I was up till about 1:00 doing it.

When I got up in the morning I could barely keep my eyes open. Everyone was quiet in the car, especially Fang, and as we pulled up to school, he was the first one out of the car. I let the rest of the kids pile out in front of me Angel grinned at me as she did jerking her head towards one of the trees that stood in front of the highschool. The Cullen's were grouped under it in the shadow of the tree.

"Remember what I said Max." Mom had seen where I was looking.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll bring Ash over after school and you can meet him." Mom rolled her eyes and smiled at me.

"I'm guessing you'll be riding in his car then?"

"I'm sure he'll give me a ride." I hopped out of the car and shut the door, waving as Mom drove away.

The rest of the flock was waiting in front of the school, minus Fang.

"And we think Max and Ash like each other but we're not sure but they totally look cute together-" Nudge saw me and froze.

"Nudge!"

"I'll tell you the rest later, bye!" Iggy grinned as Nudge grabbed Ella's hand and ran. Gazzy smirked at me before running ahead.

"Honestly, is nothing sacred in this family?" Angel shrugged.

"Let's got talk to the Cullen's Renesmee is over there and Iggy wants to meet them." Iggy turned bright red and scowled at where he thought Angel was.

"I'm over here Ig, and it is true." Iggy sighed.

"Well yeah, I just thought that if these are Max's new friends then I should meet them, if you trust them then I do." Iggy smiled nervously.

"Thanks Ig, that means a lot to me." Ig shrugged and I grabbed his hand. "Come on." Angel grabbed my hand and I walked over to where the Cullen's were standing. Ash watched me approach and my stomach clenched.

"Hey Max!"

"Hi Alice."

"This is one of your brother's?"

"Yeah, I'm the smart one." The Cullen's laughed and Iggy smiled. "I'm Iggy." The Cullen's introduced themselves one by one as Iggy catalogued their voices. There was a short pause that was broken by Angel breaking into laughter. Edward was looking nervous as Angel smiled sweetly at him. I briefly wondered what was going on before Angel quickly hugged Iggy then me.

"Max I"m going to school, bye Ig!" I had the sneaking suspicion that Angel had just been messing with Edward's head.

"Max, I think I'm going in too." I glanced at Iggy curiously.

"Do you want me to help you in?" Iggy shook his head.

"But if you could just point me towards where Jennifer is standing."

"Who?"

"She's in all my classes, I know she's tall, and I think I just heard her voice." I shook my head and turned Iggy so he was pointed towards the girl that I faintly remembered being in his classes.

"Ten steps straight ahead." Iggy paused and ran a hand through his hair, throwing me a smirk before he sauntered off. I fought the desire to sniff loudly, Iggy was all grown up! Kind of. Shaking my head I turned back to the Cullen's.

"Your sister, she's scary that one." Edward shook his head, his eyes wide.

"Aww, little bro, don't worry, the wittle girl won't hurt you!" Emmet grinned mockingly at Edward.

"Emmet's right." Emmet grinned. "She wouldn't hurt you, she'd make you hurt yourself." Emmet paled and everyone stared at me. I guess I forgot to mention the whole mind control aspect of Angel's power, whoops.

"Are you serious?" Rosalie was staring at me incredulously.

"Dead serious."

"You mean she would actually...."

"Make you throw yourself into a fire? Fall down a flight of stairs? Walk into the sunlight? Probably not, but I still wouldn't make her mad." The Cullen's were quiet for a moment until Alice spoke up.

"Well now, that's odd. No, I don't think so Edward."

"What's she talking about?" I whispered to Ash. He shrugged.

"Probably a vision, sometimes she gets snippets, not a full blown vision but a glimpse."

"Oh."

"Come on, lets get inside." Ash let his arm fall over my shoulders and I felt a shiver run up my spine. As we walked towards the building I glanced at Ash from the corner of my eye, he was looking straight ahead, a strangely satisfied look on his face.

"You know you still have to tell me about your power." Ash smiled but didn't look at me.

"Who says I have a power."

"Edward."

"He told you?" Ash glanced at me sharply.

"No, you just did." Ash frowned a little, but a small smiled tugged at the edges of his lips.

"Well then, you'll have to wait till after school." I smiled at him and slipped out from under his arm.

"Okay, by the way my mom wants to meet you. She thinks you're like my boyfriend or something." I laughed slightly but Ash's face was thoughtful.

"Hmm. And how do you feel about that?" His voice was low and alluring. The bell rang and jumped.

"Oh look, we'd better get to class, bye!" I took off down the hall, trying to resist the urge to look back and see the smirk that I knew would adorn his face.

Boys were so confusing.

**********************************************************

"Okay guys, listen up, you are going to be on your absolute BEST behavior tonight, we have two people coming over and we are all going to be good, no displays of powers or anything like that, am I clear?" The kids nodded solemnly as Iggy sniggered behind me. "That goes for you too mister." I shot Iggy a look and he smiled meekly.

"Yes ma'am." I made sure the kids all looked compliant enough, the noise of kids waiting for parents was loud, as we all (minus Fang) stood on the sidewalk waiting for Mom.

"Hey guys!" I looked up to see Katie sauntering over, a huge smile on her face. Choruses of greetings rose from the kids, my little angels (yeah right).

"Max? Are you ready?" Ash's voice sounded behind me and I started.

"Jeez, some warning would be nice."

"Well Iggy heard me." Ash smirked at me, as I smacked Iggy. He tried to look innocent as Gazzy sniggered loudly.

"Aren't you coming with us Max?" Katie sounded perplexed.

"I'm actually going to catch a ride with Ash, I'll see you at home."

"Oh okay." Katie smiled as Fang came up beside her, his face unreadable.

"Kay guys, I'll see you at home."

"Bye Ash! Bye Max! Have fun!" Nudge's voice was entirely too innocent for my liking. Iggy nodded at Ash.

"Drive slow, as soon as she gets home she'll make us do homework."

"I'll do what I can." Rolling my eyes I took off towards Ash's car he was smiling as he caught up to me.

"It's strange how your family all listens to you, well most of them." I shrugged, biting back the twinge of worry at Ash's subtle reference to Fang's recent rebelliousness.

"Well I've saved their butts enough for them to know that I'm usually right." Ash smiled and held the car door open as I got in.

I waited till we had pulled out of the parking lot before I pounced.

"So are you going to tell me?"

"What?"

"Your power, what is it?" Ash stared at the road, his face unreadable.

"Telekinesis." I stared at him for a moment.

"Really?"

"Really really."

"So how big of an object can you move?" Ash shrugged.

"The biggest I've ever done is a truck, but I haven't tested it beyond that." I stared at him in awe.

"Wow, if any of the scientists I knew got wind of you, they'd have a field day." Ash smiled.

We were silent as he focused on the road. I glanced out the window, the trees were going by fast, almost as though I were flying.

"Hey!"

"What?"

"Slow down, you're going way too fast!" Ash smiled.

"I don't think either of us would be seriously injured if we got into a crash."

"You're wrong there, at 90 miles per hour I would most definitely be roadkill." Ash looked surprised.

"But I thought you were stronger than average and you healed quicky."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean I don't get hurt, badly." Ash scowled at the road as he slowed down.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" He almost sounded angry.

"I didn't know you drove like you were in Nascar." Ash made a noncommital sound, his face still creased into a frown.

Apparently Ash's speed demon driving had drastically cut down on the time it took to get to Mom's because we soon pulled up to the house, the cloudy sky making the house look slightly eerie.

Before I could even grab my backpack Ash was outside my door holding it open as I stepped out.

I smiled before freezing, the hairs on the back of my neck rising. I peered into the trees around the house, their bright green branches casting deep shadows.

"What's wrong?"

"I just... I feel like someone's watching me." Ash glanced around then grinned.

"You can come out Jake, she won't hurt you." I tensed as a figure slowly moved out of the trees. I immediately recongnized him, Jacob the werewolf.

"Well I wan't going to jump out at her, who knew what she'd do?" Ash rolled his eyes.

"Pathetic." Jacob scowled at him then looked cautiously at me.

"I just, I wanted to see if you had gotten home safely." Ash frowned at Jacob.

"As you can see she's fine, now what do you want?"

"I was just...How's your brother Max, the dark haired one?" I stared at Jacob, my eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"He's fine, why do you want to know?"

"I was just...wondering. You talked to Alice yet Ash?" Ash shook his head, a frown still on his face.

"Oh, okay, well, see you round." Jacob sauntered back into the woods and I stared after him.

"What the heck was that?" Ash stared at the spot where Jacob had disappeared into the trees.

"I don't know, but I think I'd better talk to Alice when I get home. Come on, your mom is here." Sure enough her car was just pulling into the driveway. Ash and I walked up to the house the door opened before I could even knock. Apparently everyone had ran inside.

"You must be Ash!" Mom sounded beyond excited and I repressed a groan.

"No Mom, this is the President of the United states, you might have heard of him." Mom shot me a look before ushering Ash into the house.

"I thought you said you'd drive slow?" Iggy was glaring accusingly at Ash.

"I did." I snorted loudly and Ash smiled quickly at me.

Katie and Fang came in from the Garage and Katie paused upon seeing Ash.

"Hello."

"Hello Katie." Katie giggled breathlessly and I fought the urge to punch her.

"Well then, now that we're all here. Why don't you all head up to the library and you can work on some homework while I get dinner started. You are staying for dinner aren't you Ash?"

"I'd like to but my mother needs me at home to help with some things around the house."

"Oh well that's too bad, maybe some other time."

As we all headed up the stairs I tried not to think about what would happen when we were all crammed into the library, Fang, Katie, Me, Ash, oh lordy.

As we all got settled in and I got the kids started on their homework, trying to ignore Katie's giggles as Fang spoke in a low voice. I sat down across from Ash, he held up my history textbook and cringed.

"Must we?"

"Well, I'm pretty good with history, I could make you think that I was even there." I smiled at Ash's comment, he probably was there.

"Okay then, make me understand the civil war."

"My pleasure."

*******************************************************************

After finally getting me to understand most of the war, explaining shakespeare, and helping Nudge and Ella with their English, I was ready to worship Ash. The kids and Iggy were done with most of their homework and Fang and Katie were still working on theirs. They'd probably be done except for the constant flirting they were doing, disgusting really.

The library had gone fairly quiet when Ash's phone range. Snapping it open he listened for a moment. He went froze, "I'll be right there." He shut the phone and stood, can I talk to you outside?"

"Yeah sure." Grabbing my hand, he led me into the hallways. The kids looked at us curiously before the doors shut.

"I have to go, Alice had some visions and...well I need to talk to my family, I'll come back later tonight, through your window I think. I'll go say goodbye to your mom now though. Everything's fine, don't worry."

"But-"

"I told you, don't worry." Before I could say anything else Ash leaned down and kissed me softly, before turning and disappearing down the staircase. I stood stock still, the feeling of his lips effectively wiping any thoughts from my head.

"Max?" I turned to see Angel poking her head through the doorway. She suddenly smiled before pulling her head back into the library. A minute later I heard Nudge and Ella burst into very loud giggles, and I had the feeling i knew what caused them.

"Angel!"


	8. Chapter 8

I idly twisted the corner of my bedspread, staring at the ceiling as I did. I couldn't help but glance at the clock everty so often, cursing every second that went by. What if something bad is happening? What if he's in trouble? What if erasers are attacking all the Cullen's and I never see him again? I was worrying, about Ash. I couldn't stop thinking about him, he said he'd be by. But everyone had gone to bed and he still wasn't here. What if something went horribly wrong? Sighing, I pulled myself up and glared at the mirror on the wall. I couldn't just sit here!

I slid off the bed and padded quietly over to the window. I gently relaxed my wings from the position I had tucked them into against my back, rolling my shoulders slightly as I did. I gently slid open the window, allowing me access to the cool damp night air. The rains had stopped and the moon was glowing weirdly behind the clouds, illuminating them in strange ways, bringing shifting shadows to life.

I shivered slightly as I eased out the window, opening my wings wider for balance. A light wind ruffled the trees and I was glad for my sweatpants. I briefly thought about putting on shoes, but brushed the thought aside, I needed to find Ash.

The need was strong in me, I needed to see his face, to know that he was okay. My stomach twisted and I froze, something wasn't right. The sensation was strangely akin to that of when I had sensed Jake in the woods by the house.

I knew there was something there...I just knew. I let my wings open fully and stepped off of the roof, gliding silently to the springy grass below. I crouched lightly on my toes scanning the area around the house. I needed to find Ash, but I had to make sure my family was safe. Whatever was out here...I had to know.

The only thing I could see was the dark green of the trees, the moonlight casting their figures into relief. The wind was making it hard to see in the shifting branches, and it was making noise. I couldn't discern anything even with my raptor hearing. I pushed into the ground with my feet, the dewy grass leaving my feet wet as I threw myself into the air. I began a slow spiral up, keeping my eyes on the sky, waiting.

I rose higher till my hair started to accumulate drops of water from the clouds, I hovered for a moment, surveyeing everything. It struck me again, how strangely the light of the moon was making the world appear, it must be a full moon.

I scanned the trees below me using the same techniques a hawk or falcon would to look for prey, and I found it. A brief movement, but that was all I needed. I angled my body and pulled in my wings, hurtling myself into the dive. My hair whipped around my face and I suddenly wished I had thought to put it back.

Dodging branches on my way down I pulled up sharply, coming to land on a thin tree branches, balanced on my toes and my wings half spread between the branches.

A wolf was sitting beneath my tree, focused on the house, his tongue lolling lightly. He was huge, that was for sure, as big as a horse. I knew he wasn't Jacob, different fur. The question was, why the hell was he watching my family. I scanned the grounda around us, and almost growled, anothe wolf was stationed a few yards away, and another even further. The one on the end was Jacob, his reddish fur was recognizable even through the trees.

The wolf below me cocked his head and glanced sideways at the wolf to his right. It was looking right at him, in what seemed to be a shrug, the wolf stepped forward cautiously, peering through the trees till he was right at the edge of the forest. He stepped out, one step at a time, scanning the area around him. He paused on the lawn, sniffing the air, he was looking for something, me.

Flapping my wings I silently rose into the air, I glided to where I was above the wolf, he really didn't have a chance. By the time he heard the warning growl of the other wolf in the trees, I was on him.

I took him to the ground, rolling him away from the forest, and wrapping my hands around his neck and straddling him. He whined as one of the other wolves stepped out of the trees, her, I suddenly knew it had to be a her, teeth were bared in a silent snarl. I waited, knowing Jacob would have to come out in a minute.

"Come on Jake, don't want your little friend to get hurt do you?" I taunted quietly, knowing he could hear me. The wolf I had pinned could to, his ears tried to flatten themselves and he half growled and half whined.

"Alright Max, you got us, what do you want?" Jacob's face was hard as he stepped out of the trees.

He was dressed in a pair of cutoffs, his chest bare, apparently unaffected by the cool night air. I wasn't either, the warm fur of the wolf I had pinned was making me think of campfires and cozy blankets, strange really seeing as I had this strangely furry being in a death grip.

I returned to the situation at hand, glaring at Jacob. "I want to know what the hell you think you're doing."

"Watching."

"No Shit sherlock."

"Watching your house."

I smiled at him and tightened my grip on the throat of the animal beneath me. He wheezed and the she-wolf took a half step forward.

"I want to know why, and I want to know now."

"That's none of your business." Jacob's face was hard, he wasn't telling me something, no surprise there, but even still.

"Look, I don't like you wolf boy and if you don't tell me why you're giving me a very good reason to do some serious damage-" I was cut off as the wolf under me suddenly bucked, throwing me into the air.

He scrambled to his feet, his body in a defensive position. I landed on my feet, my wings spread slightly, I could feel the rage bubbling up in me, I wanted to hurt someone, badly.

"Seth no!" Jake was too late, the wolf was leaping at me, his mouth open and claws ready. I rolled and came up behind him, my front foot shot out, catching him hard in the ribs.

I could hear the air fly out of his lungs as he skidded into a landing.

He turned and came in for another shot when a blur shot out of the woods and stopped right in front of me.

The wolf, Seth, backpedaled quickly, his nose wrinkling at the sight of Ash. I felt my heart leap, he was okay!

"Jacob, you need to leave now." Dr. Cullen's voice was commanding as he stepped out of the trees. His hair looked windswept, as his skin gleamed lightly in the night.

"We have some unfinished business here." Jacob glared at Dr. Cullen.

"That can wait, you need to go home, now." Jacob stared at Dr. Cullen for a moment, his face frozen.

"Seth, Leah, let's go." He turned and Seth and Leah followed him, but not before Leah could growl at me.

Before they faded into the trees I stepped out from behind Ash, who put out an arm to stop me, though I sidestepped it easily.

"Jacob," I said, my voice even and calm. "You ever, give me another reason to attack, and I will. And I will not hesitate to kill you. You say you were watching our house?" My voice had turned mocking, "you'd better watch your back." Jacob said nothing as he disappeared, I only heard branches break as the three wolves disappear.

"I'll leave you hear then, I'd better get back home to explain." Dr. Cullen jerked his head towards where the wolves had disappeared.

Ash nodded and Dr. Cullen looked at me carefully. "Max." He inclined his head at me and I stared at him stiff necked.

"You'd better keep those dogs away from us, I mean it, I don't want to hurt them, but I will, they keep hanging around our house and my family and I won't hesitate to take drastic action."

"I'm sure you won't Max, and I'll do what I can." Dr. Cullen disappeared and Ash and I stared after him for a moment, the night suddenly seeming strangely quiet, all the tension had left the air.

"Air you suicidal? Nuts? Insane? Schizo? Please, tell me what it is! I leave you alone for a few hours and you manage to get into a fight with a werewolf, what is wrong with you! You could have gotten seriously hurt!" Ash's voice was low and tight, the anger in his voice scared me.

"What are you, my babysitter?" I glared at him.

"No, but maybe I should be because you obviously can't stay out of trouble!"

"I'll have you know that I can take care of myself!" Ash's face suddenly looked pained, and his hands came up, his cold skin skimming over my bare arms, coming to rest on my shoulders.

"But you can't, not this time." He was silent for a moment, and I stared at him in confusion. "I won't let them! I won't let it happen!" Ash's face hardened with determination.

"I've found you and they can't take you away!" He looked in my eyes and leaned closer to me.

"What are you talking about Ash?" He stared at me for a moment, the wind blew in the trees and I shivered slightly.

"What are you wearing? A tanktop! It's too cold for that!" He glared at me again and I rolled my eyes.

"I don't have to cut tank tops up to fit my wings through. And I'm wearing sweatpants, I'm fine." Ash frowned and before I knew what was happening he had scooped me into his arms and was running.

In a few brief moments he had scaled the wall of the house, depositing me into my room and shutting the window behind him. I stared at him in awe.

"Into bed with you, before you get hypothermia or something. I assume you can get sick?" He said sarcastically.

"It is possible" I smiled at him and climbed into bed, relieved at the warmth despite myself. Ash's face softened as he sat down next to me, his hand reaching up to brush my windblown hair out of my face.

"How am I supposed to catch you Maximum Ride, when you're as fast as the wind and just as strong?" He leaned forward to rest his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes, reveling in his touch.

"You don't have to catch me, I'm right here." I could sense his smile as his lips ghosted over my cheeks, coming to rest on my lips. The kiss was soft, but insistent. I could feel a yearning behind it, his arms came up to encircle my shoulders as my hands rested on his chest.

I felt safe, protected, and a bit chilled. Far sooner than I would have liked, Ash pulled away, he shifted so that he was leanding against the headboard, pulling me against him with a blanket as protection from his cool skin.

We sat in silence for a moment as my mind flashed over the kiss, everything else gone, for a moment.

"Why did you have to leave? Earlier I mean, what was going on." I felt him tense and I looked up to see him staring straight at me, I tensed as well from what I saw in his face, fear?

"Max, did I tell you about the Volturi?"


	9. Chapter 9

"So basically the Volturi are like...the royalty of the vampire world?" Ash nodded. "Great, so why are you all upset?" Ash was silent for a moment, he didn't move and for a second I thought he was dead.

"Alice, had a vision, and in that vision, the Volturi came to find you." I stared at Ash in shock.

"The flock?"

"No. You. Alice said it seemed like they didn't know about the flock. "

I sat up straight staring at the window outside. "When?"

"Not for a while, about a month or so." Ash was looking at me his face wary.

"How do they find me?"

"Trackers."

"I have to leave."

"What?"

"If they don't know about the flock yet, when they find me they'd find out about them." Ash nodded.

"We have a while yet." We were silent for a moment and I leaned back into him, my mind whirring over this news.

"I just want to know how they found out, or how they find out in the future, or something..." Ash's voice sounded absent and his face was drawn.

"I don't know." I looked at the window again, my face pulling into a frown.

"They can't find them! They're so happy here!" I looked up at Ash's face, it was pained, and he was looking at me almost, helplessly.

"If it weren't for us...me, you wouldn't know any of this and they wouldn't be coming after you."

"Don't be stupid, I attacked Jacob, it all started there so it's my fault. Besides, I don't regret any of it, meeting your family, learning about you guys. It's been nice to meet some freaks who weren't grown in a tube."

Ash smiled. "Max, I don't....I don't want you to get hurt, through whatever might happen with the Volturi, I-" Ash broke off as I stood, turning away from him.

"No, Ash, whatever's going to happen, I won't sit back, I'll fight through whatever means necessary, I have to protect my family. I've gotten hurt before, and it'll happen again."

Ash glared at me. "You don't get it Max! The Volturi are deadly! We don't know what they want yet but, you could get killed!"

"Don't you think I know that?" I stared at Ash in exasperation. "I've been through near death experiences, and I don't do stupid things! If I have to die to protect my family, I will!"

"No." Ash stood and took me by my shoulders. "I won't let that happen."

"Why? You've only known me for what, a few weeks? For all you know my expiration date could be coming up anyway!"

"Your what?"

"Nothing, it's just something stupid that the school did with some of the experiments." Ash stared at me for a moment before crossing his arms and stepping back.

"I don't believe you."

"Excuse me?"

"Tell me what an expiration date is." My thoughts flashed to Ari's sudden death in Germany and I thought about the potential for my own sudden death. I knew Ash wouldn't let this go until I told him what an Expiration date was (stupid stubborn people).

"It's just this thing that the scientists did, sometimes people would have these dates that kind of showed up on their skin and they were the dates they're going to die, it's just one of the sick games they played, really. Now I was thinking-" I stopped talking as Ash pulled me in close to him, his arms wrapping around me. I stood stock still not moving.

"Max?"

"Yeah?"

"I like you, a lot." My heart was pounding faster than normal, I was sure the whole world could hear it.

"Oh?"

"In all the time I've been on this earth I've never met anyone like you, ever."

"Well that's funny, cause you know the Avian American population is on the rise and-" I could feel myself babbling on in a most Nudge-like manner before Ash put a finger on my lips.

"I'm not going to lose you just when I've found you." I stared at Ash, my eyes wide. He pulled me closer and let his head rest on my hair.

"I don't want to lose you either," I whispered. We were silent after that, and for the rest of the night I let Ash hold me as I listened to the sounds of the house, and tried to figure out when my life went from complicated to insane.

******************

A/N: Helloooooo out there! Okay, so to all you people who actually still want to read this story, I LOVE YOU! I'm sorry about the aeons long gap between my updates but I've just been swamped! I wanted to get this chapter out before I left town again (so be grateful you little turds! just kidding ;)) Anyway, enjoy!

Read on,

Fightingrose


	10. Chapter 10

Friday morning dawned far too quickly for my liking. As I got ready for school, my mind flashed over last nights events. I still had a weird glowy feeling in my stomach when I thought about Ash, but other than that I was focused on the big ball of dread that had settled in my stomach. I grabbed my backpack and made my way downstairs Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge were sitting around the table chattering at Mom as she made our lunches.

"Morning guys, morning Mom."

"Hi Max!"

"Morning sweetie, food's on the counter."

"Thanks." I dished up a heaping plate of food from the buffet style line up on the counter. I began to eat, listening to the kids debate whether or not the lower school was haunted. I was almost done when the doorbell rang. Angel and Gazzy leapt out of their seats, racing to be the first to answer it. I glanced at the clock, it was 6:30 in the morning, who would be here at that time?

"Maybe it's an emergency..." Mom glanced at her vet bag which sat on one of the counters, she always kept one at home for emergencies. I shrugged and shoveled in the last few forkfuls of egg on my plate.

A moment later Angel and Gazzy reappeared, two people behind them. I started coughing when I realized who it was. Swallowing quickly I smiled at Ash who was looking at me bemusedly. Alice smiled at me impishly as she introduced herself to my mom.

"Hi I'm Alice Cullen, Ash's sister."

"Hello, I'm Dr. Martinez, you can call me Valencia. Would either of you like some breakfast?"

"No thanks, we already ate. Actually I'm here because I think Max might have forgotten about a little date we have after school today." Alice's smile was scary all of the sudden.

"Date?" Mom glanced at Ash, then at me.

"Alice is taking Max shopping for a dress today." Ash clarified

"Yeah, we're all going into Rockfort this weekend to go dancing and we're making Max come with us, and she said she didn't have a dress so we just have to get her one!" Mom looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"You're going dancing?" I stared at Alice then Ash for a minute before I got myself together.

"No! Most definitely not!"

"Max you should go! It would be totally cool! And you'd be wearing a dress, I think you would look good in something floaty, silver or blue maybe, and you could wear some really cute heels!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" Alice smiled happily at Nudge.

"Great so it's settled then?" Nudge looked at me, sensing my refusal she did bambi eyes. I groaned and glanced at Angel, only to be met with bambi eyes on her end too."

"Fine!"

"Well then!" Mom was smiling softly as she reached for her purse.

"Oh no Valencia, this is our treat, besides I have a special discount at the store we're going to." Alice smiled at Mom who hesitated for a moment before putting her purse down.

"If you say so. Now when are you going dancing?"

******************************************

"Dancing? Are you serious? I have no idea how to dance! And a dress? And heels? I"ll kill myself!" Alice looked back at me as she skipped down the front porch's steps.

"It'll be fun, and Ash can teach you how to dance. He's a great dancer." I glared at Ash.

"You!"

"What about me?" He quirked an eyebrown at me and I almost forgot to yell at him (almost).

"You were part of this...scheme!"

"Max, I have learned never to try and stop Alice when she gets an idea in her head." I rolled my eyes and stalked over to Ash's car.

He held the door open, an annoying smirk on his face. Alice stood outside the car for a moment, her head cocked to the side.

"Ash I'm going to catch the jeep, they're about to reach the driveway." Ash nodded and walked around the the driver's side. Alice smiled and leaned down to my window.

"I'll see you after school Max." Before I could reply she was gone.

I shook my head, still unused to the Cullen's speed.

I was silent for a moment, as Ash started up the car. He pulled out of the long driveway and pulled into the road, I could see Emmett's jeep a ways in front of us, the lights making bright spots in the early morning fog.

"I suppose I don't have a choice in any of this?" Ash glanced at me and shrugged.

"Well you do," his voice dropped to a low purr, "but I would be very sad if you didn't come, it wouldn't even be worth it." he placed an emphasis on the 'very', drawing out his words till I was about ready to melt in a little puddle of hormones. I took a deep breath and locked my eyes on the road ahead, which was flashing by far too quickly though I refrained from commenting on that.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to suffer through it." I crossed my arms and shifted my wings against my back, my eyes locked on the jeep's headlights.

I was startled when I felt cool fingers against my face, Ash slowly brushed as strand of my hair behind me ear. I glanced at him, only to be met with his golden eyes, his perfect features nearly stole my breath away, before I realized that he wasn't watching the road.

"Ash! Watch the road!" He laughed and turned back to the road, but only after he grabbed my hand, letting his cold one and my warm one rest on the armrest. I glanced at our fingers, wound together, and smiled.

**************************************

"That one, most definitely that one." Alice nodded in satisfaction as soon as I walked out of the dressing room. She had guilted me into trying on atleast 20 dresses so far, all of them acceptable by my standards, but not, apparently by Alice's.

Now I was wearing a dress made of deep blue, almost purple, floaty material, that had some sort of lacy silver stuff layered over it. It came to about mid thigh and it covered up my wings in the back. I didn't completely hate it, though the fact that it was a DRESS made it pretty annoying. Alice sighed one more time in satisfaction before banishing me to the dressing room.

I waited patiently while she paid for the dress (after she explained how much money they had I gladly let her foot the bill) and headed out of the mall. The mall was in the next town over from Jericho. Ash had driven us over and dropped us off, claiming he didn't want to be put through the torture of shopping (I would have gone with him except for the fact that I was Alice's victim of choice). Now that we were done, we waited outside for one of the Cullen's to pick us up.

"Don't worry Max, you're going to look absolutely great and-" Alice stopped talking, her eyes suddenly focusing on something far in the distance.

"Alice?" I waved my hand in front of her face but she didn't seem to see it. "Alice!"

She started and looked at me.

"Oh my gosh!"

"What? What's wrong Alice? What's happening?"

"A sale!" I stared at her incredulously.

"You have got to be kidding me. You got me all worried for a SALE?"

Alice ignored my angry tone and got to her feet in one swift movement.

"I have to get there now! It's at my favorite store! Well, one of them atleast. I'll get Jasper to drive me home later, but you just wait here Max. Bye!" before I could say anything, she was gone.

I stared after her in amazement. Alice was undoubtedly different. Resigned to my fate of a solitary wait for whatever Cullen would rescue me, I scanned the parking lot again, looking for one of their expensive cars. Nothing. Resisting the urge to just fly home, I glared at a pair of guys who were smoking near me.

"Do you mind?" The shuffled away and I crossed my arms in front of my chest impatiently. I was trying not to think about this weekend, and the dancing. How the heck would I survive that? I mean, these were incredibly graceful and coordinated vampires we're talking about.

"You're alive!" I looked up to see a sleek black car pulling up to the curb. Bella sat in the drivers seat and Rosalie in the passenger side. I could make out the faint outline of a small body, I assumed it was Renesmee.

"Yeah, but just barely though." It was Bella who had spoken and she looked properly sympathetic. I grabbed the bags and opened the back seat door, sliding in next to Renesmee. "Alice had a premonition about a sale, she said she'd have Jasper come and pick her up."

"That's Alice for you." Bella steered the car away from the curb with a small smile on her face.

"What did you do wrong?" I was startled to hear Renesmee's voice, her face looking oddly anxious.

"Nothing that I know of."

"Oh. Well you're in trouble."

"What are you talking about Renesmee?"

"Uncle Ash said you have to come straight home, and you can't escape...Daddy only does that when I'm in trouble."

"Umm." Rosalie turned in her seat to face us.

"What Nessie means is that we are under strict instructions to deliver you to your house with no added stops, and without you leaving the car." At my puzzled look, Rosalie grinned. "Dancing lessons."

I groaned and looked ruefully at the locked doors. "And there's no way you could just lose me? Accidentally of course."

"Nope. You're going to learn how to dance Miss Birdy." I glared at Rosalie who only smirked at me. Shopping AND dance lessons. There is a god...and he hates me.

***************************************************

"Okay, don't try to lead this time. Let me guide you." I nodded and took a deep breath, putting my hand in Ash's. I was hyper-aware of his hand on my back, holding me just close enough to wonder where all the air had gone. "Okay, now Angel."

Angel pressed the play button on the CD player we were using and some sort of classical music started up again. Angel and Gazzy were curled up together on the couch watching our dance lesson and occasionally commenting or laughing, as the situation deserved. They had chosen to stay at home rather than go to the grocery store which was where Ella, Nudge, and Mom were. Fang and Iggy were at Katie's house with a bunch of other kids.

We were about half an hour into the lesson and I was starting to think someone had designed the waltz just to torture me. I glanced down at me feet, ready to step when Ash moved.

"Eyes up Max." I looked into his eyes, which were a dark golden color at the moment, and tried to focus. "Now just let me guide you." I let all my breath out and waited for Ash to move, focusing on feeling his body against mine.

I focused on his eyes and let him begin to move me around the room, a sudden feeling of lightness invaded me and it felt as though the only thing keeping me tied to the floor were Ash's arms. He spun me around the library floor we had cleared off as though I were made of glass. I felt a smile creep onto my face as the rightness of it settled in.

"I'm doing it!" Ash smiled at me and I almost lost my breath. Angel and Gazzy were whooping and jumping on the couch chanting, "Max can dance! Max can dance!" I laughed as Ash twirled me around one last time before dipping me low to the floor before quickly kissing me softly on the lips.

"Eeew!!!" Gazzy made puking noises as Angel giggled. Ash swept me back up to a standing position and looked in my eyes. "I think you'll do just fine Max."

I cleared my throat and looked at the floor, trying to regain my composure.

I looked up as the waltz music was replaced with the macarena Gazzy and Angel had leapt from the couch and stood in front of Ash, their eyes widened to angelic proportions.

"Will you please teach us the macarena, PLEASE." Ash glanced at me then at the kids.

"Why not? Every kid has to know the macarena." Grinning, Angel and Gazzy moved to stand beside Ash, tugging me along with them.

"Okay, first you put your hands out..."

************************************

"Hold still!"

"But this is taking forever!"

"You're almost done, quit whining." I glared at the wall in front of which I had been placed.

Nudge and Alice were doing something to my hair that was taking way too long. Ash, Rosalie, Bella, Edward, Emmet, and Jasper were all supposed to meet us here, at my house soon. But right now all I could focus on was the strange edgy feeling that had persisted all day. Nudge and Alice's hands on my hair were only a brief distraction. For some reason, something felt wrong. Yanking my thoughts away from the feeling, I tried to focus on Nudge and Alice.

"Am I done now?"

"No." I waited for a moment.

"How bout now?"

"No." I grinned a little.

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No!" Nudge and Alice yelled simultaneously. I sighed. crossing my arms over the silvery whorls of the lace like netting that made up the top layer of my dress. It was already seven o'clock and we should be leaving soon to go dancing. Angel, Gazzy, and Fang had left to go on sleepovers. Not that I had heard that directly from Fang, I was still mad at him.

"Okay, NOW you're done."

"Great, let's go." I stood up, and made my way (thankfully without falling in the stupid heels I was wearing), to my bedroom door, Alice and Nudge right behind me. We made our way downstairs, just as the doorbell was ringing.

Mom came out of the living room where she, Iggy, and Ella had been watching TV.

She paused for a moment, smiling quietly as she looked at me, then she opened the door. Ash was standing on the front porch, looking especially amazing in dark Jeans and a button down black shirt.

"Hello Ash, how are you?"

"I'm fine Valencia, thank you." He stepped inside and paused, just as I was descending the last bit of the staircase.

He stood stock still, staring at me. The look on his face made me shiver just a little bit, a mixture of amazement, wanting, and something else that I couldn't quite place. I suddenly felt a little bit scared and a lot nervous.

"Hi."

"Hi, you look, amazing."

"Blame those two." I gestured towards Alice and Nudge who were watching our exchange with smug little smiles.

"Well, we'd better get going. Bye Valencia." Alice waved to my mom who nodded and smiled.

I hugged Nudge and yelled a goodbye into the living room where Ella and Iggy were.

"Bye Max! Ash, Anything you do to my sister, I'll do to you!"

"Iggy!"

"Well not like that!"

"I'll keep that in mind Iggy." Ash was smirking as he led me out to the big SUV that held the rest of the younger Cullen's. Dr. Cullen and Esme were going to stay home with Renesmee (lucky ducks).

Jasper came out to help Alice into the car, kissing her hand as he did, a sweetly romantic gesture that looked as though it belonged in a movie.

Once we were all loaded into the car, Emmet turned on the engine and gave out a whoop as he pulled out of the driveway.

"Do you guys do this often? Go dancing?" I asked Bella.

"Not really, but Alice had a vision of us in this dance club right after you told us who you were, so here we are!" I glanced around the car, suddenly feeling very plain. Rosalie, Alice, and Bella all looked amazing and I suddenly wondered why Ash even paid attention to me. There was a sudden return of that edgy feeling as we sped by the woods. My thoughts suddenly turned to Fang and the feeling increased.

"Are you all right Max?" Jasper was looking at me speculatively and I shrugged.

"I'm just worried about Ash."

"Why?"

"He's taking me dancing, why wouldn't I be worried?" The Cullens laughed and Ash pulled me closer to him on the seat. Jasper laughed along with them but I saw him regarding me worriedly for a moment before a wave of calm engulfed me. I gave him a small smile and he nodded before glancing quickly at Edward.

"You really do look beautiful." Ash pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I was stiff for a moment before I slowly relaxed into him, content to stare out the window at the ever darkening sky.

**********************************

A/N:Ha! That was a long chapter so you can't complain! Well technically you could complain about the story, but who would do that? I mean look at it, it's perfect! JK, lol, I hope you guys like it, I'm working on the next chapter now so you can start holding your breath...On second thought, don't.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Okay people, climactic action time! I'm already working on the second chapter, but I do have a life so as usual, you can expect a good distance between updates (it's the nature of the beast kids, take it or leave it). Anyway, read, review, and most importantly enjoy!

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The club pulsed with the music, the throbbing beat shaking through my chest. We had been here for about two hours already, and we'd spent most of that time on the dance floor. I had been twirling and gyrating with the Cullen's the whole time. I didn't really understand where my hatred of dancing had gone, but I wasn't really that fussed about it to be honest. I loved the crowd, the music, and the Cullen's. I felt as though I were floating on cloud nine or something, whatever you wanted to call it, I was happy. I felt like I belonged with them.

Rosalie, Bella, Alice, and I had been twirled from one Cullen guy to the next, laughing and enjoying the feeling of just letting go. Everyone around us seemed in awe of the sheer perfection of the Cullen's, I couldn't stop marveling at how easily the Cullen's had accepted me. The only other people who had done that were Mom and Ella, and they were part of my family, but the Cullen's felt like family too, all except for Ash, he felt like something entirely different from family.

Emmet twirled me into Ash who caught me easily. "I keep forgetting how light you are. I feel like I could crush you." Ash was holding me tight, his arms locked around me as he stilled. The throb of the music made it hard to hear him, but I still caught his words.

"Don't worry, if you start to crush me I'll crush you back." Ash laughed and pulled me closer. The music slowed in harmony with our movements, melting into a slow croon.

"You tired yet?"

"A little."

"Come on then, I'll get you something cold." Ash grabbed my hand and made his way through the crowd, which melted away from him, letting him pass easily. I felt as though I were breaking out of a bubble as we left the dance floor. He led me up some stairs, into a slightly calmer, quieter lounge area. He led me to a low, sleek couch that curved against one wall. I sank into it, noticing for the first time the ache in my feet from the strappy heels Alice had gotten me into.

"You seem to have taken to dancing fairly well." Rosalie sat down next to me, her slinky silver dress rising just above her knees, drawing admiring looks from a nearby group of guys.

"Guilty as charged. You know-" Right before I could finish saying how amazing meeting the Cullen's had been (minus the whole 'the Volturi are gonna get you thing') a breathtakingly beautiful woman stopped right in front of us.

"Rosalie!" Rosalie stared at the woman for a moment, her face frozen.

"Eva?"

"The one and only."

"Eva!" Rosalie stood and hugged the woman, her face happily surprised. I was staring at the woman, who I was sure had to be a vampire, as she shook back a golden wave of hair from her face.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was just passing through on my way to Italy when I caught your scent so to speak and I thought I'd come say hello." Eva smiled again her teeth gleaming perfectly.

"Hey I got you a coke I didn't think you'd-"

"Ash!" Ash stopped in his tracks, his hand half extended to hand me my drink. He turned slowly to face Eva, his face wary.

"I think we have some talking to do Mr. Ash. But first, I think I should say hello." Eva grabbed Ash's shirt and dragged him to her, planting her lips on his in one quick motion.

I didn't realize that I had stood until Rosalie put a restraining hand on my shoulder. Ash pulled away from Eva and stepped away.

"Look, Eva some things have changed since we saw you last." Eva glanced at Rosalie, then at me smiling contemptuously.

"So you got a new toy, what else is new? There have been enough girls through the years that I know not to take them seriously. Come to Italy with me Ash, you can have some fun with me." Eva smiled seductively and stepped closer to Ash.

"No Eva." Ash turned around and grabbed my hand. "Let's go Max. Rosalie, we'll meet you guys outside." Ash pulled me through the club till we reached the exit. I turned back to see the Cullens following us out. Eva was standing where we'd left her, staring after us. She caught my eye and held it before cocking her head and smiling. A shiver of fear worked its way down my spine, she looked angry and undoubtedly vengeful despite the perfect smile that adorned her face

Ash tugged on my arm and pulled me out of the club. His face was emotionless and distant as he handed me into the car. He climbed in beside me and glanced out the window, looking for the rest of the C ullens.

"Ash, who was she?" Ash looked at me, his face still unreadable.

"She's someone who I used to be with." I clenched my fists and stared at Ash, silently demanding an answer. Ash sighed and looked me in the eyes. "For a long time, I wasn't really anchored anywhere. I hung around with a lot of different girls. Eva was almost a constant presence though. Sometimes we were together, and sometimes we weren't. Max-" He paused and took my hands. "I've known the Cullens for years, and I've emulated their diet for even longer but...I was different from them for a long time. I wasn't a....nice person Max. But I got tired of that lifestyle and I decided to join the Cullens for a while, I was just trying to make sense of who I was, I was trying to feel something other than the coldness that I had felt ever since I was changed. Then, I met you and I did change, I felt something. Max, you're unlike anything I've ever known and you make me feel different than anyone I've ever known." I stared at Ash, my heart beating uncomfortably close to my throat.

"I've done a lot of things that I'm not proud of, but-" I cut him off by quickly planting my lips on his. He brought his hands up to my shoulders, letting them lightly skim over my skin. I broke the kiss and stared at him.

"There's a lot I don't know about you, and there's a lot you don't know about me." I paused for a moment, taking his hand and twining his cold fingers with mine. "So I guess we just have to make sure we get the time to learn about each other."

"Okay." Ash's voice was husky as he tilted my chin up so I was looking him the eye. "Okay." He said again, a small smile crossing his face.

"Are you two done?" Rosalie's voice sounded from somewhere outside the car and I jumped.

"Yes." Ash kept his eyes on mine as the car was suddenly filled with Cullens.

"Well now that you two have gotten your little heart to heart over with, I think it's time we get moving." Ash and I looked at Edward who was staring at the road, his face unreadable.

I looked around at the rest of the Cullens. None of them looked happy, in face they all looked very unhappy.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Everyone was silent for a moment, none of them meeting my gaze.

"Eva." Alice stopped.

"What about her?"

"She's going to the Volturi." I felt as though I had just been dumped with cold water.

"What are you talking about? It's not like she knows anything, right?"

"The thing about Eva," Said Edward, "Is that her gift is somewhat like mine. Except, instead of reading minds, she sees things. She gets images, mostly random from what we know, about the people she's with. As we were leaving, I caught some of her thoughts. She was seeing you," He glanced at me, "with wings. I think she's put the rest together through guesswork. Normally she wouldn't care about any of this, but you're with Ash, so she cares. And she's angry."

Everyone was silent again. "How long?"

"Two days." Alice looked at me, her voice steady, she cocked her head and considered me.

"That would work you know." I focused my racing thoughts and looked at her.

"What?"

"That island. For your family."

"How did you know?" Everyone was focused on Alice and I now.

"I was getting small flashes of what you were planning. It would probably work." I glanced at Ash, then at Edward, who was driving.

Making a snap decision, I turned to Ash and pointed to the back of my dress. I need you to rip holes in my dress for my wings.

"But-"

"Just do it." I used my leader voice, looking him squarely in the eye. I turned my back on him and waited. He hesitated for a moment before swiftly ripping the dress.

I turned and stood up, trying to ignore Alice's woeful expression as she eyed my dress.

"What are you doing Max?" several Cullen voices protested as I opened the sun roof and climbed out.

I felt the car slow slightly as Bella screamed at Edward to slow down.

"We don't have any time to waste, I can be home in a few minutes. I'll call you." Before any of the Cullens could react, I had spread my wings and leaped into the air. The slipstream of the car pushed me down for a moment before I started pumping my wings, gaining altitude quickly. Angling my body towards home, I poured on the speed, already solidifying my plan in my head. I had to get the flock out of here, if the Volturi only knew about me then they would only look for me, at least that's what I hoped.

A few minutes later I skidded to a stop in front of the house. The lights were all on, even at this late hour which was odd as a lot of the kids weren't supposed to be there. Frowning, I ran up the steps and threw the door open.

The foyer was empty as I stepped inside, a figure appeared in the entrance to the living room and I recognized Mom.

"Mom?" She rushed forward and pulled me into her arms.

"Max, I'm so glad you got my message."

"What message?" She stepped away from me and looked at me in confusion.

"I called Dr. Cullen and asked him to get into touch with you."

"I didn't get-" I took a deep breath and tried to focus. "Why did you need me."

Mom looked at me for a minute, her face worried. "Fang is missing." I stared at her for a moment.

"What do you mean he's missing? Since when?"

"We're not exactly sure. He and Iggy were at a friend's house. Iggy was in another room and he went to find Fang but he couldn't find him. He came home, thinking that maybe he was here, but he wasn't. That was two hours ago. I got everyone home. I was about to call the police, we were just-"

"Don't." I turned around and stared out the window thinking. My first thought was that somehow the Volturi had gotten to Fang. I had no idea how they'd know where he was but...

"Has anyone called Katie's house?" Mom shook her head.

"Do that. Then meet me in the kitchen." Mom nodded her face lined with fear. She turned to go but I reached out and took her arm. "Mom? Remember when I said there might come a time when I'd have to get the flock to leave?" Mom only looked at me sadly.

"Do what you have to do Max." I nodded and let her go. I walked through the living room and heard voices coming from the kitchen, the kids. I walked into the kitchen and was nearly knocked off my feet by Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge grabbing me in a tight hug. Iggy and Ella were sitting at the table. Iggy had stood when I walked in and now he was staring intently at the doorway where I was. I felt my gut wrench at his solemn expression.

"Okay guys listen up. We're working on finding Fang but right now I need you to do exactly as I say." I looked at all of them wishing I didn't have to do any of this. The kids' wide eyes mirrored my own fear, I made sure my mind was closed off from Angel as I surveyed them.

"I need everyone with wings to go get pack their backpack with the essentials, and I mean bare essentials. You could be flying a long way so you need to make sure it's not too heavy. Ella, you can help anyone who needs it, you'll be staying here." I was met with silence then-

"Max what's going on?"

"Where are we going?"

"What happened to your dress?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"No questions. Do it now!" I yelled. The kids hurriedly ran out of the kitchen, their faces scared. I felt like a monster but I knew what had to be done.

I sat down in a kitchen chair, easing my wings around me and waited for Mom. She walked into the kitchen a moment later, her face drawn.

"He's not there." I felt my last hope that he wasn't in life threatening danger vanish.

"I need you to call Dr. Cullen again and ask him to send someone over." Mom looked at me in confusion. "Mom, they can help us. I'll be right back." Without another word I left the kitchen and headed upstairs. I saw the kids getting ready as I walked down the hallway and up the staircase at the end of the hallway. Stopping in my room I wondered how much longer I'd be living here.

Shaking my head, I quickly changed out of my dress, glancing sadly at the ruined back. Putting it aside, I pulled on my black cargo pants, black tank top, and my combat boots. I pulled my hair into a hasty braid, making sure it would stay out of my face. Heading back down the stairs, I stopped in front of Iggy's room.

I stepped inside to see Gazzy lying on Iggy's bed, watching him pack.

"Hey kiddo, you all packed." Gazzy nodded solemnly. "Okay, I need to talk to Ig for a minute alone kay?"

"But-" I shot him a look and he huffed at me as he climbed off the bed. As he stalked past me I ruffled his hair, earning an eye roll as I did. Smiling slightly I closed the door behind him. Iggy sat down on his bed patted the space beside him. Crossing the room I sank down next to him and took a deep breath.

"Tomorrow morning, as early as I can manage, you guys will fly to a ship that's about ten miles of f the coast. From there, you guys will be taken to a point off of the southern California shore. The captain of the ship will give you a GPS navigator that will lead you to an island on which you will stay until you hear from me or one of the Cullens." Iggy was silent for a moment.

"You aren't coming?"

"No. It's better if I'm not with you."

"What about Fang?" I stared at Iggy.

"He'll follow when we find him, or when he comes back."

"Max what the hell is going on?" I had dreaded that question, and now that I was faced with it, I wanted nothing more than to tell him the whole truth.

"I can't tell you, it would put you in more danger."

"So it's like, if I told you I'd have to kill you kind of thing?"

"Kind of, except the people I'd be telling you about would be doing the killing." Iggy turned to look at me with sightless eyes. Question written all over his face.

"Iggy, you might think that genetic recombinants are the freakiest things out there, but we're not. There are things that exist that make us look like labradoodles. Right now, some of those things have found out about me and they're coming to see me."

"Does this have anything to do with the Cullens?" I paused, wishing Iggy weren't quite so perceptive.

"Yeah, except they're trying to protect us in fact-" I paused as the doorbell rang downstairs. "That should be Ash." Iggy smiled devilishly.

"Ooh, it's Ash!" He clutched his heart and fluttered his eyelashes girlishly.

"Cut it out!" I felt a smile cross my face and shook my head. Suddenly insanely glad for Iggy's immaturely hilarious humor, I pulled Iggy into a tight hug, wishing I weren't putting them in danger, because, that, was exactly what I was doing by loving Ash, I was making the flock a target. And yet, as regretful as that made me, I couldn't seem to stop. Loving Ash. I loved him, that I knew for a fact.

I pulled away from Iggy and looked at him seriously. "Take care of them Ig."

"I will Max."

"Great, you can start by getting them all in bed and letting them know the plant, I've got stuff to take care of." Iggy nodded and stood with me. I could feel his blind gaze on my back as I left the room. Time to take care of business.


	12. Chapter 12

Ash was waiting for me at the foot of the stairs. He waited for me to descend, his face unreadable.

"Carlisle told me about Fang. Alice is..." I waited for him to continue impatiently. "She's just having trouble seeing him."

"What do you mean, 'she's having trouble' what the heck does that mean."

"It means..." Ash stopped again, his face slightly wary. "It means he's probably with werewolves." I felt all my breath leave in a low hiss.

"Do you have any idea where they are."

"We have some ideas, Emmett and Jasper are out looking." I clenched my fists and resisted the urge to punch a wall. What the hell was Fang doing?

"I know you want to go find him, but we have things to do first."

"Is the flock taken care of?" I took a deep breath.

"I just have to visit some people."

"Okay, you do that and I'll meet you back at my house. We need to go over some things with the family." I nodded and took a bracing breath.

"Hey," Ash cupped my face in his hands. "We can do this." I nodded and he leaned forward, enveloping me in a stirring warm kiss. He slowly deepened it, pulling me in closer to him. I felt my heart race more than it normally did as all my worries were halted by his touch. Pulling away slightly I put my hands on his chest and let him hug me. After a few seconds I pulled away and sighed.

"Let's do this." Nodding, Ash turned to open the door, he let me pass and followed me out, shutting the door behind him. Giving him one more small kiss I spread my wings and leaped into the air as he vanished, leaving only a small breeze behind.

I rose to the level of the roof, seeing Mom's face gazing worriedly out her window. Sending her a smile, I wheeled around and shot off into the distance.

Dinardo had welcomed me happily and he had obligingly agreed to help me. I'd met Dinardo when I rescued him from drowning off the Alaskan coastline where he was sailing in his yacht. I didn't know when I saved him that he was a multimillionaire. I was lucky that he knew how to keep a secret and that he was an all around great guy. He had wanted to meet the flock, but we were on our way to go see Mom and I'd already delayed us enough so we had headed out with the promise to stop by sometime and call if we needed anything.

When I'd called Dinardo he'd been only too happy to meet with me, and he was even happier to supply the resources for the Flock's escape. As I flew away from his mansion on the northern coast of California I wistfully wished I could stay longer and enjoy the paradise he had built. As I angled my body towards home I saw him pick up his phone and give me a short wave before turning away to prepare for the Flock.

I rushed into supersonic speed, hurrying home as the sun slowly rose. Time seemed to be rushing at me faster than I could fly and I was starting to panic about what I would do when the Volturi came in..I realized we had less than forty-eight hours. Fighting back a feeling of despair I pushed myself even faster, aching to reach the flock so that they could be sent to safety, away from this horrible mess I'd dragged them into. My thought's flashed to Fang and I felt a horrible stab of worry. What was he doing with werewolves? I wondered if Jasper and Emmet had found him yet, I prayed that they had. I didn't want him hanging around any of this mess. I knew the werewolves would be with us when the Volturi came, Ash said they would stand with us through whatever. If Fang was with them, especially this close to the standoff, that put him into more danger than I was willing to allow.

I grimaced as I thought of the past few weeks, things hadn't been right with us. He just wasn't himself. It was like he was a different person. Then again, maybe I was the one who had changed, I was after all the one who was hanging out with a coven of vampires. I snorted indelicately as I thought about how crazy my life had become, now it wasn't a sci-fi novel, it was a fantasy, a fantasy that was quickly becoming a nightmare. Frowning I focused on flying, I'd worry about finding Fang later, right now I had to take care of the rest of the flock and get them to safety.

Mom's house came into view sooner than I thought was possible. There was one light on in the living room and I saw the dull flickering of the TV. Steeling myself, I landed and stepped in the front door I heard shuffling as a shadow moved into the living room doorway.

Angel gave a little cry and ran to me, her arms wrapping tightly around my neck as I swung her into the air. I clutched her tightly to me, not wanting to let go, not wanting to move. Sighing I shifted her weight to my hip stepping into the living room.

Mom and the rest of the flock were all gathered, their faces a mixture of determination and fear. I was proud to see most of the determination was on the Flock's faces. Biting my lip I smiled shakily at them,

"Okay guys, here's the deal. You guys are gonna go on a little vacation, you're going to an island actually. You can go swimming and fly all you want. My friend Dinardo, remember I told you about him? He's gonna take care of you guys. Just listen to Iggy and when everything here is all better you guys can come back and tell me all about it."

I was met with silence. "Bullshit."

"Gazzy! Watch your language!" Gazzy only looked slightly contrite as he glared at me.

"You really expect us to leave you here? And Fang?"

"As soon as we find Fang he'll follow you."

"Who's we?" Said Nudge.

"The Cullens."

"They have something to do with a ll of this don't they? Are they trying to hurt you? Cause if they are we can totally kick their-" I shot Iggy a grateful glance (not that he could see it) as he slapped a hand over Nudge's mouth.

"The Cullen's are helping to keep us safe Nudge," I felt it prudent not to mention that none of this would be happening if I'd never met the Cullens. "Look, I want to answer your questions, but I can't. You guys have to go now. Iggy knows what to do, just listen to him."

Mom and Ella followed the flock to the porch where they all shrugged on their backpacks and gathered around me, stacking their fists one by one, I hesitated for a moment, wishing Fang were here but also knowing that he wasn't the only one missing. Glancing at Mom and Ella who were watching us with tearful eyes I motioned them forward. Mom looked at me questioningly, I only nodded her towards us. She and Ella hesitantly stepped into our circle, and stacked their fists with the flock. I put my fist on top of theirs and tapped the back of my family's fists.

This might be goodbye, but it wasn't goodbye forever. As I watched the flock rise into the sky I took a deep breath. Whatever was coming wouldn't be good, but I knew that I would be ready, I had to be, my family depended on it. A family that not only included the flock, Mom, and Ella, but the Cullens too.

The air was full of the gray morning light that filtered through the clouds that covered the sky as I landed on the Cullen's roof. I partially closed my wings as I glided down the roof, landing lightly on the ground in front of their porch. The front door opened and Ash stepped out his face breaking into a smile when he saw me. I jumped onto the porch and wrapped my arms around him, the coolness of his body served to ground me. It cleared my head and made me feel safe. I looked up at his face and studied his eyes taking in their golden brilliance.

"I missed you." He said. I smiled and pulled his head down to meet mine, devouring his lips. I pulled him even closer to me wanting to feel every part of him and know that he was real.

Just as I was running out of air he pulled back and stepped away, running his hand through my hair he looked at me longingly.

"Max...you're so...fragile." I grinned at him.

"I think you're one of the few people to ever think of me as anything close to fragile. Most everybody else thinks I'm a bit of a rough-houser to tell the truth."

Ash groaned and pulled me into a one armed hug. Schooling my face into a semblance of seriousness I regarded him carefully. "Ash, seriously, don't worry, I'm not as delicate as I look. I can take a lot." Ash quirked an eyebrow at me suggestively.

"I'll keep that in mind." I felt myself blushing furiously as he guided me into the house. I cursed myself for suddenly drawing a blank on all my witty comebacks, instead I settled for silence.

"Max!" Bella was gliding down the stairs, Renesmee cradled in her arms. "Have you told her yet?" Ash shook his head.

"Told me what?"

"Eva's found an Ally in the Volturi." Bella shifted Renesmee and stared at me worriedly. "Alice got another flash of the Volturi, she saw some sort of vampire doctor with them, he seemed to know about you." I frowned, trying to think about what sort of vampire doctor would know about me, I mean a lot of the doctor people I've known have been creepy, but a vampire doctor that knew about me? That could not be good.

"Well, other than updating them about my powers and perhaps telling them about the flock if he knows about them, I don't think we can do much about him." Bella nodded.

"What about Fang, has Alice seen anything?" Bella shook her head.

"We definitely know he's with the werewolves, otherwise she'd be able to see him." Said Ash. I took a deep breath, knowing what I had to do. I couldn't have Fang out with the werewolves when the Volturi was on their way, I had to try to make sure the rest of the flock remained a secret.

"Would the werewolves go far from here?" Bella shook her head.

"Not with the Volturi so near."

"Then I'm going out to look for him."

"No. Absolutely not." I bristled at Ash's tone.

"Excuse me?"

"Emmet and Jasper are already looking for him and I'm not having you going near what could be a brand new were-" Ash broke off as his eyes flashed to Bella, his expression wary. "I mean it could be dangerous." Ash finished lamely.

I looked at Bella for a moment as she glared at Ash then I turned my eyes back to Ash.

"Do you think...I mean that's not-"

"Do we think Fang could have turned into a werewolf? Yes." Carlisle's voice was calm and collected as he rounded the corner of the foyer.

"Then I have to find him now! If he's planning to fight with the werewolves, if it even comes to fighting, then he'll be discovered for sure!"

"Max you can't just-" I rounded on Ash my voice low.

"Don't tell me I can't, because I will. Fang is part of my family, sure we've been having a little bit of a rough patch, but he's been my best friend for years. I'm not leaving him to the wolves, no way in hell." With that little pun, I turned and ran out the door, spreading my wings as I leaped off the porch. I quickly gained altitude, anger pumping adrenaline into my system.

I had to find Fang, and fast. Emmet and Jasper couldn't get the aerial view I could and besides, it was my fault Fang was involved in this whole mess.

But was it? A little voice in my head was telling me that if Fang was indeed a werewolf now then he probably would have turned into one anyway. My mind flashed to the erasers and I realized how much of a nightmare it would be for Fang to turn into a full blown wolf when wolves had symbolized everything dangerous we had ever faced for the majority of our lives. I poured on the speed as I jetted away from the Cullen house and I tried to forget Ash's face when I had stormed out of the house.

I felt a pang of anger at his commanding words and felt my face twist into a scowl. I couldn't believe he had-.

My thoughts caught off as I spotted something shining below me in a brief flash of sunlight that shone through a break in the clouds. Using my raptor vision I focused in on the shining figure of what could only be a vampire. Circling closer I looked down to see if it was Emmet or Jasper, I couldn't quite tell as he moved under a tree branch, he was moving fairly slowly for a vampire, following a track?

I soared down to land soundlessly (at least I thought I was soundless) in a branch where I quickly realized he was most definitely not a Cullen, a fact which was quickly reaffirmed when in a flash of speed he turned and leaped into the air and slammed into me. We flew through the air skidding to a rough landing. I was gasping for breath from the force and I felt a sharp pain in my left wing indicating that I had broken something.

As I took this in I realized that the vampire was still crouched on top of me. His eyes were a dark maroon, reminding me faintly of dried blood. His dark hair contrasted with his pale face and his obviously large frame moved with a predatory grace. I grimaced, knowing that even on par, I would have a hell of a time with him.

"Maximum Ride in the flesh, how good to meet you."

"Can't say the feeling's mutual." I gasped as a condescending chuckle vibrated from his chest. I tried to buck him off of me but he didn't budge and I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into.

"Ah, you are feisty. I had heard rumors but it really is quite an experience to see you in person."

"Yeah I am pretty dang cool, but it would be even cooler if you could get the hell off me whoever you are."

"My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself." He smiled charmingly, or what would be charmingly if I didn't know he was a complete jerk (I think the whole tackling me thing gave me that idea). "My name is Christophe, Christophe Germain."

"How wonderful." Before he could do anything else I bucked and at the same time threw my leg up to slam into the back of his head. A blow that would have knocked out a human or eraser only served to distract him enough for me to get out from under him, wincing in pain at my hurt wing and the new bruise that I could practically feel forming on my foot.

"Very clever." His voice was a snarl as we began to circle each other, neither of us breaking eye contact.

"Clever's my middle name." Growling, I faked a stumble and he took the bait shooting towards me in a flash, I ducked just in time, grabbing his arm that was darting out to grab me. In one quick movement I twisted him around to a modified take down in which he slammed into a tree on his knees and I was able to bring his arm up behind him, slamming it into the tree as well, snapping his shoulder in the process. I tried to focus as I felt my wing throb with pain and kept a hold of his arm, trying to buy some time before I tried to break his neck.

Before I could do anything a low growl sounded throughout the clearing, at first I thought it was coming from Christophe, but when another snarl sounded from behind me I spared a glance at the four legged figures that had leaped into the clearing.

Before I could figure out if any of the werewolves were Fang Christophe twisted under me and I found myself in a choke hold, his good arm wrapped around my neck. I gasped in pain and tried to struggle as the wolves looked for an opening.

"Get, out of here," I gasped, "I can take care of this! Don't get involved!" A low growl that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle rose from a big black wolf at the back of the pack.

I heard Christophe sigh behind me as I tried to get a grip, let me tell you, having a broken wing squished behind you while you're being suffocated, is not fun. But then again, knowing that the guy I was trying keep away from the vampires was right in front of a vampire was a little more worrisome than my broken appendage.

"There's no need to tell your little friends to back off Maximum. We won't be here for long." I felt a brief pang of worry when I heard the word "we" before the Christophe shifted his grip on me, pulling me closer to him.

"Now doggies, why don't you run back to the Cullens and let them know that when the Volturi come calling, you all can let them know that they'd better watch out because I won and they lost." I thought that speech was a little childish but I didn't say anything because at that moment the big reddish wolf in the front of the group lunged and at the same time I suddenly felt strangely cold before Christophe scooped me up and took off at extreme vampire speed. It was only when I tried to punch him that I realized I couldn't see him, I couldn't see myself for that matter.

Great, so I'm being kidnapped by a vampire that can turn invisible, I have a broken wing, and-

"I have big plans for you Maximum Ride, just you wait, once I'm done with you, I won't ever have to hide again, they'll see, they'll all see." My thoughts were cut off by Cristophe's little diabolical speech.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think I just got myself into some deep doodoo.

***************

A/N: Sorry for the super long wait people but the chapter is up and that's all that matters. I'm kind of starting a new story, it's a Twilight fanfic called Heartsblood. I'm still working on it but keep an eye out for that. Anyway, I just thought I'd make a note that I know that Vampires are supposed to be the ultimate predator and I know some of you will be thinking, yeah right how's Max supposed to fight a vampire? Well let me just say, that aside from her awesomeness (jk) I'm kinda basing her ability to fight Cristophe off of the fact that she's superhuman so lets leave it at that. I hope you liked the chapter!

Au revoir!


	13. Chapter 13

I did not faint. I closed my eyes and lost consciousness for a while, but I did it on purpose, I swear, I was just doing it to make sure Germain think I was the weak type of girly girl who would faint. But I didn't faint, just making that clear.

By the time I woke up from my self-induced slumber that was not a faint, I was about ready to kill someone or something. My wing was still in a lot of pain and I could feel bruises all over my body. I suppressed a groan and opened my eyes. There was a small fire crackling merrily before me, reminding me of all the times the flock and I had slept by a campfire. I closed my eyes again and bit back a pang of worry. Fang. He was supposed to be on the island with the rest of the flock, instead, he was mostly likely running around with the dog boys and being all wolfy.

I opened my eyes again and scanned my surroundings. I was in a cave, it ended behind me in a rough wall and the mouth was a small opening that was blocked mostly by the still figure of Cristophe. "You are awake." It was a statement. "Good. Eat this." He threw something over his shoulder without looking at me. I caught it and realized it was two energy bars. It wasn't much, but I'd take what I could get. I checked to make sure they were still sealed before I ripped them open and scarfed them down.

By the light filtering in through the cave entrance, I could see that it was dark out, and cold, a cold that was only slightly lessened by the fire. I tensed as Cristophe stood suddenly, in a flash he was by my side, crouching beside me, his face unreadable.

"I have waited so long for this Maximum, you and I, together we're unstoppable." His voice was soft and contemplative. My breath caught as his hand shot out to gently grab my chin. His fingers trailed along my jawbone, down my neck and across my shoulder. I tried to scramble away from him, but almost collapsed from the pain in my wing.

"Ah, gently my little bird. Let me take the pain away for you." In another second he had swooped down over my neck and his fangs sank into my flesh. I could only struggle weakly in his arms before he pulled away. I stared at him in confusion until the pain hit me. My neck was burning, a hot acidic burning that made me want to rip my own throat out. I could hear moaning in a strange strangled way.

"Shh, Max, be strong, the pain is just a journey to something great." I wanted to bite something snarky along the lines of "I'll ditch the journey and the pain if that's all right with you," but before I could, the pain overwhelmed me and I succumbed to the burning darkness.

****************************

The pain was all I knew. It had consumed me till Maximum Ride was gone and a fiery monster was left in it's place. I was acutely aware of every part of my body, each burning surge of heat and acid that seemed to eat away my bones. I faded in and out of consciousness. Only vaguely aware of my surroundings which changed each time I opened my eyes. But each time, there was Cristophe, his face hopeful and concerned.

All I knew was that it was he who had brought this pain upon me and I hated him for it.

***************************

Towards the end, I could feel the coolness of the cloth that he pressed to my forehead. His hands gentle and icy. Tiny sparks of feeling flickered over my body, halfway breaking the fog of pain. Consciousness came slowly, a call back to earth from far away. As the heat faded from my veins I was suddenly aware of the whole world. I could hear everything, a deer a few miles away walking slowly through the forest, a bird twittering cheerfully in the trees, and the wind, quietly moving through trees and whistling around the cave.

It was different than the one we had been in before. This one extended behind me into a low dark tunnel, I could hear the light rustling of bat's wings and their quiet sleeping sounds. I could see easily in the darkness, the shape of the cave coming to me as easily though it were day. I let my wings stretch behind me slightly, they felt strong and whole again, free of pain. But the foremost sensation among all of these, was the burning need in the back of my throat. I wanted to slake it, but I wasn't quite sure how.

"It is wonderful, the discovery." My eyes snapped to Cristophe who was looking at me tenderly again. "The knowledge of your world through different eyes."

A thought was nagging at the back of my head, but the horror of it, the fear, was making me wary of thinking any more in case I made the realization of what I had...become. Oh god. A small sob escaped me and I scrambled away from Cristophe, I pressed my arm to my mouth, trying to drown the thoughts that were pouring into my head.

_Heightened senses...Speed...Immortality...Thirst for blood, human blood_. Ash's words rushed through my head. I now knew why Cristophe had bitten me, he didn't want me dead, he wanted me immortal, a vampire. A genetically enhanced vampire with wings. Now I knew what that thirst was for, it was for blood, it was for human life. Another sob wracked my body and I wrenched my gaze away from Cristophe's cool one.

"Little bird, it's not so bad. You get used to it. I'll even let you drink animal blood if you'd like."

"If I'd like? What I'd like is to not be a vampire!"

Cristophe was silent for a moment."You know a man named Jeb Batchelder, correct?"

"Maybe."

"I came across Jeb in Utah, he was alone in the desert observing some birds. I followed him home, making sure he was alone, I planned to feed from him. But, when I did I found some interesting information in his house about you, Max. Unfortunately I had already killed him so I could not interrogate him about the method for creating someone like you, but I knew enough to find you. My mistake lay in going to the Volturi. They were worried about you and the threat that people like you could pose to their existence. They decided to visit you for themselves, I knew I had to get to you first, and I did, I won Max." I stared at Cristophe silently. Jeb was dead, I didn't really feel anything about that information, I was feeling strangely devoid of anything, I was like an empty sponge, soaking in this flood of information where it sat, swirling around in the emptiness.

"Max," Christophe's voice was earnest and I was struck by the way the chiseled planes of his face could appear so intimidating and so persuasive in the span of a few moments. "Together, you and I can do so much, you were so strong before the change, I can only imagine how that will translate to your vampiric self, and powers, I'm sure you'll have a unique power, stronger than most. We would be unstoppable, combined with my knowledge and your strength, we could be-"

"Nothing. I will not be used again." I choked out the words. Anger and frustration coursing through me.

Cristophe considered me for a moment. "It wouldn't be like that Max. Never again would someone be able to use you, you have the power to be whatever you want to be now."

"What I want! What I want is-" I suddenly stopped. My whole body freezing. Something was tickling my senses, whispering through the air. It was far away but it smelled so....amazing. Cristophe was looking at me, waiting for me to react.

"I-That smell..."

"Follow it Max, follow the smell, see what it is." I was suddenly reminded of some creepy horror movie where the villain tells the character to go down the dark hallway to their doom, but the thought was erased when a breeze brushed through the cave, bringing the smell again, this time with a hint of sound. The soft, solid sound of footsteps meandering through the forest.

I took another breath and without knowing why I was suddenly at the cave entrance. The new perfection of my movements faded from the forefront of my mind as I followed the scent, drifting out of the cave on slightly outstretched wings, my bare feet grazing the ground. I realized that I was wearing different clothes, a gauzy white dress, but I pushed the question of my change of attire away as the smell grew stronger. I broke into a soundless run, whipping past trees, my wings tucked in tight.

I stopped in a clearing where a couple were setting up a tent, their voices carefree and happy. Suddenly the import of what I was about to do struck me, and I gasped in horror, a mistake, as the intake of air brought their tantalizing scents closer in a fresh wave. Guilt and abhorrence struggled with need for a split second before I broke and I lost the will to win against myself.

**_THE END_**

**_OF PART ONE_**

A/N: Did I get you? I bet I got you, lol, well I hope you liked the chapter. Now it's going to get a bit dicey here, a lot will be explained but it's going to get worse for Max before it gets better, and if you all don't hate cristophe by the end of the story then I'll have done something wrong. I'll try to update quickly, I find writing this story is a very effective procrastination technique so be glad I like procrastination!


	14. Chapter 14

I could feel the blood on my face, some of it dripping down the corners of my lips, some of it smeared on my cheeks, and still more on my hands. I stared at the pale body of the homeless man, he had put up a fight, one of the few who did. I could hear the rushing of a river a few miles away and in a few moments I was there. I let the river wash away the blood, my mind the same blank slate it had been for weeks. I sensed Cristophe as he neared me but didn't look up. He had been trying to discover what my talent was, if I even had one. Every time he tried, I'd flown away, only returning when I thought he'd stop bothering me. I didn't want to return to Cristophe, but I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't go back to my family, they'd be in danger from me. My emotions seemed to be someone else's most of the time. And the Cullens, they all lived without killing anybody, now I had so much innocent blood on my hands I could never go back to them, I was a murderer now. My life was nothing, I wandered, flew, and hunted. The hunting, the thirst. It was always there demanding life, I craved every moment of the pain the blood brought, and hated myself for it. Cristophe told me it would fade and I would get better, I had tried hunting animals but Cristophe always talked me out of it, how, I'm not quite sure, but he did it, appealing to my newly awakened vampiric primal urges. I couldn't shake the urges in my core when he spoke of human blood. Somehow, he knew exactly what words to use to bring out my thirst, it was frustrating.

"Maximum." Cristophe's voice was different today. "We need to go."

"Why?" He was silent. "Where?"

"Australia." I smiled slightly, I'd always wanted to go to Australia. Australia was far, far away. I'd be no danger to those I loved there.

"Fine." I didn't ask why we were leaving again, we'd stayed within thirty miles or so of the cave I'd woken up in, I didn't know why, I didn't really care, just as I didn't care why we were leaving now.

I followed Cristophe as he started running, his form sliding between the pine trees like a ghost, me, just a second behind him. We traveled for a few miles in silence my mind focusing on the dirt beneath my feet, blandly noting the feel of the damp earth as I sped over it. I wore jeans and a t-shirt, my feet bare, Cristophe had given the clothes to me after the dress had gotten bloody. I looked up from the dirt when Cristopher paused, we were on a small hill having risen out of the trees. I stared at him as he cocked his head. Worry transformed his features and he stared towards the west. I listened more closely and detected the sound he was hearing. It sounded like something, or some things were running through the trees. They sounded big and they (I had determined there were more than one) were moving fast. I turned to Cristophe and he motioned to me to wait.

We stood still, awaiting the creatures, whatever they were, to arrive. A few seconds later, they did. Eight huge wolves stood before me. I stared at them disinterestedly, wondering if one of them was Fang, they smelled awful, like really strong bleach. I knew they had to be werewolves, they couldn't be anything else, their forms were so huge and imposing they put me on edge just looking at them. Cristophe was silent, staring at them with a strange look on his face, like he was angry and scared all at once.

Suddenly one of the wolves darted away from the others and back into the trees in a minute he was back again. His face was so familiar, and yet so strange all at once now that I was seeing it through different eyes. His hair had obviously recently been cut and he had gotten taller if that was even possible.

"Max." He was staring at me intensely. "Max, you have to-"

"I don't have to do a damn thing!" I burst out, the beginnings of an order sparking anger.

"You don't understand, the Volturi are looking for you, everyone's worried, Max we need you."

"I can't come home Fang, I..." My mind flashed to the people I'd killed. "Just go home. Go home and tell everyone I'm dead."

"But you're not."

"I might as well be. You'll take care of everything, the flock, they'll be better off without me now. I'm not good for them."

"Max," Fang took a step forward and the wolves around him tensed.

"She's obviously not going with you boy. Besides, do you really want a murderer in your midst?" Cristophe, who had been silent till now, took a step forward. He grinned maliciously at Fang, sparing a dismissive glance at the wolves. I looked away, feeling his words twist in my mind like a knife.

"Do you know how many she's killed? How many innocent people?"

"That's your fault bloodsucker!" Fang spat.

"Is it?" Christophe lifted an eyebrow. "You forget that Maximum is now a 'bloodsucker' too. She's killed so many people...and she liked it" The last part was said with special effect and I could see Fang tense. Cristophe moved so he was half behind me and lay a hand on my shoulder. "She's still here isn't she?" I stared at the ground, focusing on the particles of dirt, clenching my toes, shutting everything out. I wanted to disappear. Fang was making me think about the flock, about the Cullens, about Ash, in other words, everything I didn't want to think about, but I couldn't get him out of my head, he was there, a presence that I couldn't get rid of no matter how hard I tried.

His godlike features were etched in my memory, and the mere thought of anything related to him made me want to run back home. But I couldn't. A dry sob wracked my bloodless body, I felt as though something had broken inside of me.

"Maximum?" Cristophe spun me to face him, a wildly anxious and excited look in his eyes. "Maximum, what-"

"Don't touch me!" And he was flying through the air, crashing through several trees before he crashed to the ground in a crumpled heap, he lay still, more from shock than any actual pain.

I stared at him, my body shaking with emotion. I glanced back at Fang only to see him staring at me in shock. I turned my face away, he thought we were freaks before, what would he think of me now. I tried to quell the shaking in my body, praying that they would all just disappear.

I heard his footsteps, slowly moving towards me amidst the warning growls of the other wolves.

"Max." He was behind me, his scalding hot skin on my arm. I shivered then froze at the touch, still staring at the ground. "Come home." He turned me to face him, "We need you. All of us." I glanced back at Cristophe.

"But I've-"

"We don't care what you've done, just come back." I took a tentative step towards him, wanting so badly to go home and let this whole night mare fade behind me. The almost silent whispers of vampire movements were suddenly all around me, I sat frozen as dark cloaked forms materialized out of the trees. I spun away from Fang as I realized who the vampires must be.

"You set me up!"

"No-"

"I can't believe I fell for it, you set me up!"

"Max, no I-"

"Well, it seems the shape shifters have their purpose after all. They led us straight to you Maximum." I wrenched myself away from Fang, stepping away from him and snapping my wings out. The vampire that had spoken was petite, her almost child like features seemed a mere overlay to a much crueler interior. I felt a shiver in my bones as the vampire tilted her head to the side, smiling slightly.

"What do you want?"

"Why, we just want to talk to you. Aro is waiting for you in Italy. He is very eager to meet you."

"No." the vampire smiled, and suddenly my gut was on fire, my legs, my face, my arms, everything was burning and freezing all at once. It was the worst pain I have ever known. I crumpled to the ground, holding my torso as though to keep it from falling to pieces. I clenched my teeth, feeling them grind against each other as the pain ate me alive.

"What are you doing stop it!"

"Stay out of this wolf, you can leave now." Fang's words reached me through a fog of pain, and as it eased, I opened my eyes to see Fang's face hovering above me. I staggered to my feet and glared at the woman.

"You can't make me do anything, I haven't done anything wrong!" The woman narrowed her eyes at me then snapped her fingers. Before I knew what was happening I was locked in the vise like grip of a hulking vampire. Smiling slightly at the woman I kicked back with my leg kicking out my captor's knee cap. I heard a crunch but he still didn't let go though I heard him hiss as he struggled to keep his balance. Pressing my advantage I kicked him again and he stumbled, loosening his grip slightly, I wrenched out of his grasp and leaped into the air, my wings slipping through the slits I had made in my shirt. I surveyed the scene below m and was just quick enough to roll out of the way out of the log that one of the vampires heaved at me. I bobbed uncertainly as it caught my foot, spinning me lightly midair.

The girl vampire was pouting petulantly, obviously I realizing that I could fly off in an instant and she couldn't find me without going to a lot of trouble.

"Come down now Maximum, no need to be irrational about this."

"Irrational? I'm being irrational? You're just another group of people looking to use me! I'm sick of it! I won't fall into your little power games! I'm already a monster, what more do you want from me?"

"You're not a monster Max!"

"Yes she is!" the she-vampire paused. "She's a horrid monster, she wants to kill, to rip, to drink the blood of the innocents. Don't you? Can't you feel the thirst Maximum?" I stared uncertainly at her for a moment before regaining my resolve.

"I'm not going down there, you can't goad me into attacking you, I'm out of here, hasta la-" I felt almost Max-like in that moment before I was interrupted.

"Max!" I froze. Every fiber in my being yearned for that voice. I stared at the new occupants of what was fast becoming a crowded clearing. Ash stared up at me and for a second, nothing had changed, I was still a mutant-bird freak sans the vampire thing and he was just Ash, perfect, amazing Ash.

I felt the unnecessary breath rush out of me as he smiled softly at me.

"That's it, come to your little loverboy, come right on down." I was snapped to reality by the snarky tones of the little vampire and I quickly flapped higher in the air, regaining the altitude I had lost.

"Max, it's okay, I'll take care of everything." Ash's soothing tone became hard as he turned to the vampires "Jane, you can leave now, Aro has decided to allow Max to come to visit the volturi when she has had more time to adjust. She will be with my family."

Jane growled softly. "I don't-"

"And before you say anything I'd suggest you take carefully into account the fact that Aro was not aware you were pursuing Maximum in the first place." Jane suddenly went still, her eyes narrowing at Ash.

"Let's go." The small contingent of vampires she had brought with her disappeared as quickly as they had come.

"You can come down now Max." I hesitated for a moment before slowly dropping to the earth. Ash took a step towards me and I quickly backed away. The joy at the sight of his face was slowly being replaced by guilt.

"Don't touch me, I'm a monster!"

"Max-"

"I'm a killer! I-"

"Max!" I was suddenly in Ash's arms, my face pressed into his chest.

"Max. I love you. Nothing will change that. We've all been where you are right now. You haven't had the proper guidance, no one has shown you. It is extremely difficult your first year or so to resist anything. I'm surprised you're as rational as you are right now. Come back with us, come back to your family. Come back to me, let me help you." I looked up at Ash, my guilt forcing me to look away as my heart ached to accept.

Could he really help me? I had already killed so many needlessly, how could I ever come back from that?


	15. Chapter 15

It has been too long since I've flown with my flock, flying in synchronized perfection, knowing that this is where we belong, up in the sky soaring free. In the past six months, I've only been able to see the flock (aside from Fang) for short periods of time as I got used to myself, relearning this whole new addition to the freak show that is my life. I've been living with the Cullens in a rented cabin (if a three story 12 bedroom log home can be called a cabin) in the Rocky Mountains.

Fang and his new "pack" have been the only people other than the Cullens I've had contact with on a regular basis. Fang and I have been getting to know our new strengths together, and I've gotten used to having my best friend be a werewolf and he's gotten used to me being a vampire.

The first time I saw the flock after going back with Ash was the most painful. Their blood didn't appeal to me, but seeing them and remembering all the people I'd killed hurt more than anything in the world. But with Ash and Fang at my side, I'd been able to face them and they'd welcomed me with open arms. I knew they didn't have a problem with what I was, but it was going to be weird returning the flock to what it had been after all the secrets and changes we were going through.

Fang was also hit pretty hard, now he had his pack allegiance to deal with as well as learning about how the heck he got to be a werewolf (we're all pretty sure it's not part of what the scientists engineered). But with him learning about his pack and me figuring out life with the Cullens, it's a little hard to figure out family these days.

But with all that life has changed, right now it all feels far away while I'm flying with my flock. Iggy and all them came to visit and this is the first time in the while I've felt really myself and not guilty, especially around them.

"Guys! Lunch!" we all started our descent from where Esme was calling us. Ash stepped outside as we landed, pulling me into a one armed hug as the rest of the flock raced inside.

My relationship with Ash was moving slowly, allowing for all the changes going on. Fang and I still hadn't talked but I somehow got the sense that he didn't trust Ash as my boyfriend, if that's what he was. I was still having some trouble coming to terms with it myself. I didn't understand how he could still want me after the things I'd done, but somehow he did, and that made everything just a little bit easier.

Inside, the smell of pasta and meatballs hit me, the enormous platters of food laid out for the flock and Fang, as well as the other werewolves took up the majority of the table. Even thought I didn't eat, I still felt weird not scarfing down the food along with my flock, the urge to eat whenever possible still an intrinsic part of my survival instincts.

Looking around the table I saw much of my old life represented, as well as the new life that was taking shape. Right now, I'm taking it day by day and not thinking about the Volturi or any threats to me or my family, right now, we just are, and quite frankly, it feels pretty damn good.

*********

A/N: So peeps, sorry it's taken me so long to get this up, I won't bore you with excuses because you probly don't want to hear them, if anyone is even reading this. So, as for the important stuff, I'm thinking about a sequel, depending on the response I get from reviewers, but as of right now, this is the end of this installment of the story. So, as I said, if you want more, let me know. Right now I'm going to focus on finishing some other stories, but I can always start writing. In conclusion, any feedback is appreciated and be sure to check out my other stuff!

Thanks for reading

Fightingrose


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